LIBRARY OF CONGRESS J 



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I JMof i.Ol I 

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J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.} 



LECTURES 



DIVINE INSPIRATION 



BIBLE, 



DELIVERED IN SOUTH READING. 



J- 



BY REUBEN EMERSON, A. M. 

Pastor of the Congregational Church in that Place. 



.Seccmfc 2Stritfon, toitj) attritions. 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM PEIRCE, 

No. 9. Co«*^j8**2*r 

1835. 



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I 1876. 



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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by 

WILLIAM PEIRCE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



BOSTON: 

Webster & Southard, Printers, 
No. 9, Cornhill. 



LC Co *trol Numbs 




t^PSS 025247 



PREFACE. 



The following brief Lectures were occasioned by a re- 
spectful request of a number of young men, who professed 
to disbelieve, or, at least, to have doubts, as to the divine 
inspiration of the Bible; a part of whom, as was understood, 
questioned the existence of a God, which occasioned an 
introductory Lecture on that fundamental article of natural 
and revealed religion. 

The author is induced to submit this humble production 
to the public eye, not because it has any superior claims to 
merit, but because it is on subjects of most interesting and 
important concern; — because it is requested by those 
whom he is accustomed to respect; — because it may bene- 
fit an attentive and respectable auditory; — and because 
the times require that the subjects be often, and more dis- 
tinctly presented. 

The objections and difficulties, which were communicated 
to him for solution, he has endeavored respectfully to notice 
in their proper places, and bring the whole into as narrow a 
compass as he thought compatible with perspicuity ; and 
in a plain and familiar style and manner. 

Quotations are made without marginal references, because 
those who could make use of them, need not, and the rest 



VI PREFACE. 

either would not, or could not. Hence, in this little work, 
unnecessary, and because it is less encumbered. 

These Lectures, which were not written with a view to 
publication, appear as they were delivered, save a few 
verbal alterations, and a few abbreviations, which do not 
affect the sense; and thus, as the hearers will perceive, the 
number is diminished. 

That they may contribute an item to the temporal and 
eternal benefit of those for whom they were particularly 
designed; of the numerous and attentive hearers, and of 
all under whose inspection they may fall, is the earnest 
desire and prayer of the 

AUTHOR 



CONTENTS. 



LECTURE I. 

The Being and Attributes of God, 9 

LECTURE II. 

Preliminary Remarks concerning Divine Revelation. 
Objections answered, - - - -24 

LECTURE IIL 

Arguments for the truth of the Bible. Mankind need 
a revelation from God. What the Bible testifies 
of God and man, is consonant with reason. Ob- 
jections answered, - - - - - 36 

LECTURE IV. 

The Bible harmonizes with itself. Manner and cir- 
cumstances under which facts were related. Mir- 
acles. Objections answered, - - 54 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

LECTURE V, 

Its continued existence. Its effects on the tempers 
and lives of men. Its powerful advocates. Ob- 
jections answered, - - - 75 

LECTURE VI. 

Fulfillment of prophecy. Objections answered, - 90 

LECTURE VII. 

Recapitulation. Evidence peculiar to believers. Ex- 
hortation. Inferences. Conclusion, - - 105 

Appendix, - - - - - - 122 



LECTURE I. 



ON THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 

While I give a few Lectures on natural and 
revealed religion, I trust my friends, for whom 
they are principally intended, and whose senti- 
ments and persons I mean to treat with due re- 
spect, will give me their careful attention, and a 
candid hearing. And should I offer anything in 
the course exceptionable in their view, or which 
should require further explanation, at their in- 
stance, I will seasonably and candidly notice it. 

Natural religion respects the existence of a 
God, or of one uncreated and eternal Being. As 
this is fundamental, I think it proper to begin 
with it. And here I assume the position, and 
submit the proof, that reason dictates the existence 
of such a Being. 

My text, therefore, are the words of Aratus, a 
heathen Greek poet, as recorded, Acts, 17: 28. 
For we are also his offspring. 

The meaning probably is, c we are the crea- 
tures of his power, who is supreme among the 
2 



10 BEING AND 

gods,' "We are his offspring." Paul says, v. 28, 
29, 4< For in him we live, and move, and have 
our being; as certain also of your own poets have 
said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch 
then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not 
lo think that the Godhead is like unto gold, 
or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's de- 
vice." i. e. If, as' you acknowledge, we are the 
offspring of this "unknown God" to whose honor 
you have an altar inscribed and dedicated, it is 
preposterous to think that he is like gold, or sil- 
ver, or stone ; for this inert matter, which you 
set up to worship, cannot produce even animal 
substance, much less intellectual beings like us : 
How can inanimate matter produce intelligent 
beings I 

My present desgn is to prove by reason only, 
that there exists in the universe One Eternal 
Being. 

In treating this momentous subject, I shall 
adopt that mode of argumentation called a pos- 
teriori; i. e. arguing from effect to cause; which 
mode of reasoning is necessary in proving the 
existence of a first cause. 

When we see an effect, reason dictates the 
necessity of adopting the following general prin- 
ciple, viz. every effect mast have an adequate 
cause: i.e. a cause, which is adequate to produce 
the effect. — To illustrate this, take a case. You 
see the earth open by the plough : you say that the 
opening of the earth is the effect of the plough, 
which is the cause. You see the plough move 
about in certain ways for the better opening of 



ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 11 

the earth ; and you say that the cause of that effect 
is the ploughman: But what carries the plough 
forward ? You say the team is the cause of that 
rffeet* Arid you will say that team is the effect 
of an antecedent cause. Trace back those beasts 
through all preceding generations till you find the 
first animals of the kind. What will you now 
say 1 Did those first animals start into being 
without a cause? or are they the effect of an 
antecedent cause ? They cannot be self -produced ; 
this would be an absurd position. Are they 
eternal? That cannot be, because eternity sup- 
poses unchangeableness . If matter be eternal, it 
must always exist in the same state, good or bad, 
in motion or at rest : for, if there be a change, that 
change must be effected by something extrinsic, 
or aside from itself ; as that, which begins to be, 
must have a cause. Every change, therefore, 
must have a cause adequate to produce it. Mat- 
ter, then, which is ever changing, must have a 
beginning; therefore, not eternal. And to say 
that a thing created itself, or that nonentity can 
produce existence, is as absurd as to say, that a 
thing may be % and not be, at the same time ; both 
which are acknowledged absurdities. 

Shall we then, in order to account for the first 
existence of things, resort, to the strange doctrine 
of chancel What is chance ? Let atheists define 
it, and they shall be soberly answered. I believe 
no atheist ever has told us what chance is, or 
attempted to Qfive a definition of it. — If atheists 
mean by it, that things come into being by some 
previous cause, undefined, that cause must have 



12 BEING AND 

a cause, or be the first cause ; and if the first 
cause, then, as we have seen, that first cause 
must be eternal, intelligent, as the God we adore, 
having none of the properties of matter, and sub- 
ject to none of its modifications and changes. 

On the atheistical scheme of chance, he is com- 
pletely uncertain what will happen next, or 
whether there will be any next ; for on his scheme 
there is no established law; for law supposes 
design, intelligence, agency : he can arrive at no 
certain conclusions ; make no certain calculations ; 
must always remain in doubt. To-day he exists a 
man; to-morrow, should there chance to be another 
day, he may exist an ox, or a plough; or he may 
not exist at all! To-day, his companion and 
children may be sources of happiness to him ; 
to-morrow, his chance or fate, whichever he may 
please to call it, may transform them into marble 
or scorpions; and just as likely,. as to have, made 
them what they are. Those objects which now 
delight the eye, the ear, the taste, may before 
to-morrow, be changed into what is most horrrific, 
distressing and disgusting, and so remain. The 
seeds you plant or sow in your gardens and fields, 
instead of yielding its own kind, will be as likely 
to yield, if anything, any other kinds, or even 
animals ; as likely sea-serpents and crocodiles ; 
one thing as likely as another, for he has no estab- 
lished laws of matter on which to depend. And 
if he sow gravel, he will be as likely to have a 
harvest of wheat, as if he sowed wheat. There is 
nothing on which he can depend, for all is doubt 
and uncertainty. But, chance may make him 



ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 



13 



happy as long as he lives in the world ; or miser- 
able ; may put an end to his existence; or con- 
tinue it forever ; may provide a heaven of eternal 
joy ; or a dreadful hell, and shut him up in doleful 

torments forever III My friends, I am not 

trifling, but appeal to your good common sense 
and reason, for the truth of what I say. 

Let us then soberly come to the reasonable 
conclusion, that the God whom the Athenians 
ignorantly worshiped, is the eternal and un- 
changeable God, and great first cause. 
, We will now attend to proof of the properties, 
called perfections, or attributes of Jehovah. 

I first remark, that God is a pure Spirit, not 
material; of infinite intelligence, as all his works 
give abundant evidence of design, of power and 
wisdom infinite. Who can analyze a particle of 
which the vast machine of nature is composed, 
and not acknowledge the Creator to be almighty? 
It is thought by sober philosophers, that the 
minutest chymical analysis evinces the power of 
the great Creator as really and conclusively as 
that of a world. Yet, to most men, it is not so con- 
clusive proof of power. I ask, then, who can cast 
his eye through the vast expanse, where shining 
orbs, and shining worlds meet his vision, and con- 
template their regular revolutions, the constant 
succession of day and night with varied seasons ; 
or reflect on his own existence, the operations of 
his whole organic system, especially the operation 
of his own intellectual powers ; the various capa- 
cities of his mind, perception and reflection, and 
*2 



14 BEING AND 

not be convinced that all was the effect of infinite 
and independent power ? 

And does not reason as loudly proclaim the 
unlimited knowledge of such a Being? Must he 
not have perfect knowledge of his whole plan as a 
wise master-builder, having all things always 
present to his view, even the minutest and remot- 
est ? And must not He, who superintends all 
worlds and atoms, not only know, but extend his 
influence to every particle ? That eloquent ex- 
pression of a king of Israel, Ps. 139, is truly phi- 
losophical ; " Whither shall 1 go from thy Spirit, 
or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I 
ascend into heaven, thou art there ; If I make 
my bed in hell, behold, thou art there." He 
must, therefore, be incomprehensible by every 
other being in the universe, of whatever capacity. 
For it is as impossible, in the light of reason, for 
an infinite Being to create a Being of infinite 
capacity, as for a being to create itself, which is 
an absurd hypothesis. And, finite, however ex- 
tended, can make no approximation, even towards 
infinite, as the endless multiplication of ciphers 
can make no approximation towards a unit. We 
are led to the borders of an immense field, which 
can never be explored ; — to the margin of an im- 
measurable ocean, on which our feeble sight is 
lost? and are left to exclaim, " It is high as 
heaven, — deeper than hell, — the measure thereof 
is longer than the earth, and broader than the 
sea? 

Again ; What wisdom, what skill is discovered 



ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 1 5 

in the formation of the endless variety of surround- 
ing objects ? Reason utters her voice from the 
bowels of the earth. — The mineral kingdom, with 
all its variety and beauty and uses, furnishes evi- 
dence of the wisdom of Him, who formed and 
sustains it. — No less is true of the vegetable 
world. Reason's voice is heard from every tree 
and plant and flower, proclaiming that there is a 
God. Here you behold intelligence, design, wis- 
dom. View their proportions and uses. There 
is neither want, nor redundancy. The exquisite 
texture of trees and plants ; the minute fibres, and 
pores through which nourishment is conveyed to 
the remotest branches, together with their curious 
coatings, and the proportions of roots to trunks 
and branches and a hundred other phenomena, 
all evince consummate wisdom. 

No less distinctly do you hear the voice of 
reason from animal existence. 

Here, as in the vegetable kingdom, you per- 
ceive each to produce its kind. Can the atheist 
tell you why an acorn does not produce an apple- 
tree ; or an oak, an orange ? or why the whale, or 
any other creature, invariably produces its own 
species? Is this order, everywhere seen, acci- 
dental ? Can he give a satisfactory reason for 
the constant occurrence of an equal, or adequate 
number of the sexes, in every age, and all over 
the world both in the vegetable and animal king- 
doms, for the continuation of the various species 
of being? Or, what will he say of the curious 
and wonderful construction of the bodies of ani- 
mals, which are composed of solids and fluids ? 



16 BEING AND 

of bones, muscles, tendons, fibres, arteries, veins, 
nerves, and membranes, with a variety of other 
properties, which compose the constituent parts 
of the body, with what is comprehended in anat- 
omy, surgery, pharmacy, and chymistry? Do not 
their several proportions and uses exhibit won- 
derful skill 1 Who that observes such a perfect 
organization, and considers that the whole ope- 
rates, and is conducted by known and fixed laws, 
but must be convinced that all was ordained by 
infinite intelligence and skill? Even the analyti- 
cal examination of an eye, or an ear, though the 
examination should stop at the analysis of these, 
or one of these wonderful organs, would most 
conclusively prove, that the hand which formed 
them, as well as the mind that planned them, 
must be divine. " He that planted the ear, shall 
he not hear ? he that formed the eye, shall he not 
see ? — He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not 
he know ? 

You also hear the voice of reason from the 
heavens over our heads. 

The planets, which constitute a part of the solar 
system, are hung in such a wise and skillful man- 
ner that they have performed their revolutions 
round the sun, century after century and millen- 
ary after millenary, in perfect harmony. 

The primary and secondary planets, which are 
of vast sizes and distances from one another and 
from the sun, their common centre, maintain a 
perfect balance. The planet on which we live, 
whose circumference is nearly twenty-five thou- 
sand miles, yet eleven times less than Jupiter, and 



ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 17 

ninety-five millions of miles from the sun, and 
moving round that resplendent orb at the rate of 
fifty-eight thousand miles an hour, yet never varies 
from the laws of motion. — Is there not design 
discovered here, wisdom and lofty intelligence, as 
well aspuiver? And do not the useful changes, 
the half of which have probably not been discov- 
ered, produced by the annual and diurnal revolu- 
tions of the earth, as seed-time and harvest, sum- 
mer and winter, spring and autumn, day and night, 
prove the wisdom of the Artist ? Again ; 

Does not the sun, which, on account of his 
transcendent lustre and benign influences, has 
been worshipped by many an idolater : — Does not 
this vast luminary, whose diameter is more than 
seven hundred thousand miles, enlightening and 
invigorating that system, and around whose mighty 
magnitude the planets move by the action and 
re-action of motion and attraction, and in orbits 
defined with perfect precision, display, in a won- 
derful and most convincing manner, the wisdom 
and power of Him, who gave his being and fixed 
his destiny ? — Lest any should think these cal- 
culations to be wild conjectures, I will say, that 
from such exact admeasurements all eclipses of the 
sun and moon are calculated with exactness. 

The fixed stars, of which 1 cannot now speak 
particularly, supposed to be eighty millions of 
suns, round which roll two billions and four hun- 
dred millions of worlds, and known to be vast 
bodies of light, at unmeasured distances from 
one another aud from us, forming a beautiful and 
extended canopy over our heads, speak, though 



18 BEING AND 

more silently, yet not the less intelligibly, the 
wisdom as well as power of their Creator, and 
remind us of Addison's beautiful Hymn ; the first 
verse of which I repeat, and refer you to the rest. 

" The spacious firmament on high, 
With all the blue ethereal sky, 
And spangled heavens, a shining frame, 
Their great Original proclaim." 

And does not reason utter her voice, too, from 
intellectual nature ? Must not that Being, who 
can create intelligences, be himself infinitely 
intelligent ? Reason responds to the sentiment, 
yes, yes, he must be; it cannot be otherwise: He 
must be infinitely intelligent. 

We will now advance from what are called 
natural perfections or attributes, to the proof of 
God's moral attributes from the light of nature. 
These are summed up in the term goodness. 
Will not reason give her testimony, that the 
Being above described, or rather spoken of, and 
that but distantly, must be good? 

The heathen, perhaps universally, have believed 
in one good being, having only the light of nature. 
Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. 4. and BeUhazzar and 
his queen, ch. v. speak of 'the holy gods. 7 Com- 
paring this expression with the Greek, it is evi- 
dent that the singular number}was meant, for the 
Hebrew and Chaldee word has no singular; so 
that the translation, according (o the sense proba- 
bly intended, was the holy God. They said of 
Daniel, " In. whom was the Spirit of the holy God." 
And shall not we as rationally conclude, that a 



ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 19 

Being of all intelligence, power and skill, must 
also be good? Must not every attribute, which 
an infinite Being possesses, be possessed by him 
to an infinite extent 1 As what is true of a finite 
being is true of him to a finite extent, so what is 
true of an infinite Being, must be true of him to 
an infinite extent This principle being granted, 
and I see no fallacy in it, then, if God is possessed 
of any goodness, he is possessed of infinite good- 
ness. And from another principle, which I think 
will not be disputed, viz. that misery is insepara- 
ble from moral evil, we may reasonably argue, 
that God cannot be an evil Being. An evil, or 
malignant being, must, from the nature of the 
passion, be unhappy. But an infinite Being, to 
be evil, must be infinitely unhappy. But God 
must be happy as seen from the nature of his 
other attributes : Having infinite power and wis- 
dom and knowledge, he can be happy, and of 
course will be : and if happy at all, infinitely so ; 
hence, not evil at all, but infinitely good, because 
happiness and goodness are inseparable. Having 
knowledge to discover all antecedents and conse- 
quents, and wisdom to select the best, or what he 
shall most desire, and power to execute whatever 
he shall choose, he must, from the nature of the 
case, be infinitely happy ; hence infinitely good. 

Among the few things we know, this is one ; 
happiness is desirable. It is what every one is 
ever seeking after. God will be happy then, if 
he can be ; and who will say he cannot be 1 As 
it is so manifestly absurd to say he can be infi- 
nitely good and infinitely evil, I will say nothing 
on the supposition. But I will say this ; if he 



20 BEING AND 

were infinitely malevolent, or malignant, he would 
exercise that passion to an infinite extent ; Then 
his universe would be completely, unremittingly, 
and eternally miserable! ! And, as we have seen 
he must himself be so, for the exercise of a malev- 
olent passion is inseparable from misery. If God 
is happy he is good, and if good in any degree, 
he must, as we have seen, be good in an infinite 
degree. 

I ask, further ; will any deny that there is some 
good in God's universe, since there is happiness, 
which is a good, and which we all experience? 
Well, then, God must be good, and if so, infinite- 
ly good. 

I will observe further, that the circumstance of 
the limited existence of natural evil, is, in one way, 
proof that God is good. The way I mean is 
this ; an infinitely malevolent being would render 
us as miserable as our capacities could admit ; 
the measure of our misery would be according to 
the measure of our capacity. But we know we 
do not endure all we have a capacity for enduring. 
It follows then, that God does not render us as 
miserable as he is able to render us : He is there- 
fore not infinitely malevolent ; hence he has no 
malevolence ; for, as has been shown, if he have 
any, he must have it to the whole extent of his 
nature. — As, therefore, good does actually exist 
in God's universe, and only limited evil; it fol- 
lows that God must be good to some extent ; and 
if to any extent, then to the whole extent of his 
nature. 

I have one principle more to state in favor of 



ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 21 

the goodness of God, as seen by the light of natu- 
ral reason : It is this ; the evils endured are the 
legitimate consequents of a perversion of the order 
which God has established. This position is sup- 
ported by observation, history and experience. 
Reason and the instincts of all animal nature join 
to prove the principle correct. Health and com- 
fort are not lost nor diminished by following the 
dictates of reason ; but both are diminished and 
lost by the perversion of its dictates. This every 
glutton and drunkard may know by painful expe- 
rience. Nature forbids excess, and prescribes, in 
its kinds, adaptations and proportions, what is 
most conducive to health and comfort, both as to 
body and mind. 

I could discourse an hour in proof and illus- 
tration of this principle ; but it must suffice that I 
invite you to the investigation, and experimental 
proof of it. Do this, and I am satisfied with 
leaving it where it is. — 1 say then, if the misery 
endured comes by the perversion of the order of 
reason, or of nature, then an adherence to that 
order is conducive to health and happiness. It 
follows then, that the Being who constituted na- 
ture, must be good. 

I suppose the curious speculator is ready to 
inquire, why an infinitely good Being should suffer 
evil to exist in his universe ? 

I have not undertaken to reconcile all difficul- 
ties or account for everything. — It must suffice 
that I now briefly remark, that there is nothing 
whereunto we can liken the Almighty to perfec- 
tion. Finite beings cannot possibly comprehend 
3 



22 BEING AND 

the purposes of an infinite mind. He has con- 
stituted us free, rational agents ; and what we do, 
we choose to do : and whatever evils he suffers to 
exist in his universe, are in consequence of a 
perversion of the powers he has given the crea- 
tures he has made : and he suffers it to be so for 
reasons, which lie back of our ken, and, which 
we never may be able to discover : and we 
should never sit in judgment upon the govern- 
ment of an infinite Being, till we are able to 
comprehend his whole plan. — And what if beings 
of limited capacities, like ourselves, meet with 
mystery ? Is it not a reasonable presumption, 
that, in the existence and government of an in- 
finite Being, we shall find some things, if not 
many, which are beyond our comprehension ? 
Rather, is it not an argument in favor of the 
existence and attributes of God, because there 
ore mysteries in his existence and government ? 
Reason most certainly teaches this. 

And it is hardly necessary to observe, that there 
can be no unrighteousness " in Him, in whom all 
fullness dwells." 

If now I have fairly proved from reason, as I 
trust I have, that there is one Being at the head 
of the universe, who is uncreated, and has origi- 
nally and forever all natural and moral attri- 
butes, which can render a Being worthy of the 
highest station and loftiest praise and adoration, 
I trust my hearers will candidly consider, and 
allow to the arguments, all the force that reason- 
demands. — As in courts of Justice every man is 
presumed to be innocent till he is proved to be 



ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 



23 



guilty, so every theory and system are presumed 
to be true till a better can be proved to exist. 
Till then there should be no rejection nor sub- 
stitution. 

I only add, that the atheist is brought into this 
dilemma; either, that there is at the head of the 
universe one infinite Being, who governs all 
things, or, that every particle of matter must pos- 
sess all the natural attributes we ascribe to God, 
in order to take its place, and sustain the office it 
holds for the regulation and harmony of the uni- 
verse. 

I conclude this lecture with the following 
remarks. 

1. If there is such a Being as I think I have 
proved to exist at the head of the universe, we 
may rest assured, that he will order and superin- 
tend all events from the greatest to the least 
everywhere, in infinite wisdom, equity and good- 
ness. As nothing is too great for the grasp of 
his all-comprehending mind, so nothing is so 
small as to escape his notice. Even the wrath 
of man he will make subservient to his wise deter- 
minations, and will suffer nothing to transpire in 
any part of the universe, which shall eventually 
tarnish his glory, or frustrate his purposes. His 
power will execute what his wisdom shall devise, 
and his goodness adopt. 

2. We infer that the high and lofty One, who 
inhabiteth eternity, and dvvelleth in the high and 
holy place, is worthy of all the adoration and 
praise of all creatures, in all worlds, at all times, 
and under all circumstances. 



24 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS 



Let us then bow, with all reverence, fear and 
awe profound, before Him, ' whom heaven and 
the heaven of heavens cannot contain. ' 



LECTURE II. 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS CONCERNING DIVINE 
REVELATION. OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

I now approach the subject of divine revela- 
tion, — But before I proceed to direct proof that 
the Bible is the word of God, I shall offer a few 
preliminary remarks. And I observe, 

1. God is able to make a revelation to man. 

He is perfectly acquainted with the human 
mind in all its powers and susceptibilities. 

As I am now to meet the deist, who admits the 
existence and attributes of one God, as the case 
has been argued, I must /neet him, as 1 did the 
atheist, on the score of reason And I think 
he will freely admit, that the infinite Deity is 
abundantly able to reveal "what he may please to 
reveal to the intelligent mind of man. He cer- 
tainly can do it as easily as he gave instinctive 
and intellectual powers ; and I think it will not 
be disputed. 



CONCERNING DIVINE REVELATION. 



25 



I therefore observe, 

2. There is nothing improper or inconsistent in 
his doing it. 

Can any one see the least inconsistency in the 
character of the great Eternal in inspiring the 
mind of man with knowledge of the future ? 
informing him of things he could not, or ivould 
not otherwise have known? Is the supposition 
at all unreasonable? Provided always that the 
supposed revelation be not inconsistent with the 
known attributes of the Deity, nor unimportant 
as it respects the condition of his rational crea- 
tion, but that it must strictly comport with the 
high and infinitely exalted character of the eter- 
nal Jehovah. It is to be presumed that no rea- 
sonable man can deem it unreasonable, that God 
should give such a revelation to man as he should 
deem consistent, and necessary for the benefit of 
man. — Without enlarging here, 

I remark once more, 

3. That a revelation from God, is important, 
and necessary for the good of man. 

And here my text are the words of a heathen 
philosopher born at Athens about 340 years before 
Christ, and quoted by Paul, I Cor. 15: 32. 

Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. 

Epicurus here expresses the feelings and sen- 
timents of most of the heathen world, in every 
age. All futurity was so deeply involved in dark- 
ness and in consequent gloom, even though they 
should die like the brutes, that they went into 
all manner of sins and gross immoralities, which 
the grosser passions suggested, and to which their 
*3 



26 PRELIMINARY REMARKS 

depravity so strongly prompted them. " Let us eat 
and drink," live as we list, " for to-morrow we 
die;" enjoy the present, for we are ignorant of 
the future Do not men need a revelation from 
heaven, then, to restrain and control those pas- 
sions, the unbridled indulgence of which, must 
render themselves, as individuals, and the civil 
and social state most unhappy ? 

Ignorance of the character of the Supreme 
Being, renders a revelation from God necessary. 

The views the heathen have of God are gross. 
They suppose him to be such a one as themselves, 
having all the passions they have. Hence they 
feed their gods, and act out before them those 
sordid passions, which they ascribed to them 
supposing it to be an honor and pleasure to those 
senseless idols. And they are careful to have 
gods of such character, as are gratified with an 
unrestrained development of all the grosser pas- 
sions of depraved nature ! 

How needful also it is that they should be cor- 
rected relative to their own character and condi- 
tion as sinners ! The heathen do indeed know 
that they are sinners, and in a wretched condition ; 
hence their fruitless sacrifices, their continual and 
vain oblations. These things prove that they 
know that all is not right with them. 

Their greatest philosophers stood in doubt re- 
specting futurity, notwithstanding " The heavens 
declare the glory of God," " And the invisible 
things of him are clearly seen, being understood 
by the things that are made," and man might 
have conclusively argued from the light of nature, 



CONCERNING DIVINE REVELATION. 27 

and the known properties of mind, that he is im- 
mortal, and ought always to worship, and must 
ever be accountable to the great Creator, Governor 
and Benefactor. — But, as men 'do not like to 
retain God in their knowledge,' they need a rev- 
elation clothed with supreme authority, to reveal 
more clearly his character, a fuiure state, and their 
obligations to serve him, with sanctions of law to 
enforce obedience, and bring them to rational en- 
joyment in both worlds. 

I need not enlarge here, for I have not one 
that hears me, who does not instantly see what a 
deplorable condition the community would be in, 
if all were to adopt, and act upon the Epicurean 
principle, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow 
we die." 

But there is another attitude in which I wish to 
set the heathen world before you, which is ex- 
pressed by Epimenides a Greek philosopher, 
quoted by Paul, Tit. 1 : 12. " The Cretians are 
always liars, evil beasts, slow-bellies. " And Paul, 
who had been among them said it was true. 

Here are three distinct traits of character. 
The first is, they are liars : Their general char- 
acter was falsehood and deceit. Their word was 
good for nothing. They are always liars : no 
dependence upon them at any time; always upon 
the watch to deceive, lie and defraud. 

Now, judge of that state of society in which 
every one must exercise constant jealousy over 
another, and not able to know anything by what 
another says, however he may say it. 

The next trait of character our author gives 



28 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

bis countrymen, is beasts. They had the cruelty, 
sottishness and filthiness of beasts ; given to 
beastly lust and indulgence, regardless of decen- 
cy, cleanliness, or moral order. Further, they 
were evil beasts. Not only did they brutalize 
themselves in everything unbecoming rational 
beings, but evil, cruel, ff hateful, and hating one 
another;" regardless of the common welfare, 
destroying reputation, property, peace and com- 
fort, and life too ! Can you well estimate the 
unhappy condition of such a people? 

But there is one other characteristic of these 
heathen, though what we have seen we should 
think bad enough : They were " slow bellies." — 
The Greek, which was the native tongue of this 
prophet, means, ' a lazy, idle people, who had 
much more inclination to eat and drink, than to 
work in any honest labor/ This comports with 
their other traits of character, and is in perfect 
keeping with their being * liars and evil beasts.' 

This is a fair, undistorted, thongh very imper- 
fect description of the heathen world in general, 
and agrees with the report of all those who have 
been among them, in different ages and different 
parts of the world. And still they say, \ The 
half has not been told us.' 

When the excellent Swartz, who was sent out 
by George I. of England, to reform heathen 
society in the East, was in one of the principal 
cities that was besieged and almost reduced to 
starvation, no promises or bonds of king, nobles 
or people could procure relief, as they had no 
character for truth, but " always liars," while 



CONCERNING DIVINE REVELATION. 29 

the bare word of that good missionary, who had 
established his character for truth, relieved the 
city. Read the accounts of the Islanders of the 
Pacific, who were all that the Grecian prophet 
declared of the Cretians ; and perhaps more, as 
many of them were cannibals or eaters of human 
flesh. — In India, you know, it is according to 
the laws of those half civilized people, to destroy 
themselves, the aged, decrepit, diseased* widows 
and children! and all this by the authority of 
their prophets, priests, poets, and sacred books. 
Oh, what an imperfect idea can we form of the 
debased and revolting state of such a community ! 

I may remark here, that human science may 
do much, as it has done, to meliorate the condition 
of men ; but the most polite ond refined by the 
liberal arts and sciences have fallen far short of 
that humanity and sympathy, integrity and benev- 
olence, which form a Christian state 

I might add here, that the degraded state of 
females throughout the heathen world, savage or 
sage, evinces the want of more light from heaven. 

As the God of nature did not take woman from 
the head of man, to rule over him, so neither did 
he take her from his feet, to be trodden down ; 
but from his side, to be his companion. Whether 
those heathen men, whose number is not small, 
that believe and say, that women have no souls, 
and are therfore to be treated as sir/ res, do not 
give as much evidence that they have none, is a 
question I leave you to decide. Of one thing I 
am certain ; females have never been considered 
and treated so, except in heathen countries. 



30 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

It might be useful to extend the development 
to a great length, as it might easily be done, of 
the abominable doctrines, horrible, and no r less 
abominable usages, and wretched conditions of 
the whole heathen world. But, have I not said 
enough to satisfy the mind of every man, that the 
revelation of *a more excellent way,' is neces- 
sary, for the greater good of our species. Faith- 
fully compare our condition with that of the best 
state of heathen society, and I think it will be 
conceded, that the nations, which have enjoyed 
the Bible, are superior both in civil, social, literary, 
moral and political respects, to the most refined, 
and enlightened heathen nations. 

It follows then, that a revelation from God is 
desirable, and necessary for the benefit of the 
human race. 

I know T that unbelievers, who undervalue the 
Bible in relation to its influence on men in society 
for their enlightening, elevation and happiness, 
are inadequate judges of what they would have 
been without a revelation, as they judge with too 
little reading, with less observation, and with no 
experience. They are not aware of the influence, 
which Christian principles have had on those, 
whose education has been under their discipline. 
It is hence, that men are apt to prejudge in the 
case before us. They take only a partial view of 
the subject, as they are born and educated under 
scripture principles, and have had but little ac- 
quaintance with the state of society which was 
formed without such principles. 

But I must leave this particular where it is, and 
proceed to the Book I call sacred. 



CONCERNING DIVINE REVELATION. 31 

When that learned and eloquent Jewish lawyer, 
who was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, was 
persuaded to be a Christian, he said, as recorded, 
2. Tim. 3. 16. " All scripture is given by inspi- 
ration of God." 

As this is the proposition I am to prove, it will 
be incumbent on me, first to teli you what I mean 
by the inspiration of God, as applicable to the 
Bible. 

I will first briefly tell you what I do not mean 
by it. 

And I do not mean that the Bible is partly 
true and partly false, or of doubtful authority, as 
the legends and oracles of the heathen. No; the 
various and most ancient manuscripts have been 
critically and learnedly examined, compared, and 
collated, and stand authenticated by men of 
various religious opinions, of different ages, and 
are received as authority by them all. 

I do not mean that God approves of all the 
sentiments there recorded ; or that he inspired, or 
moved every character there brought to view, to 
speak and act as they did : He always approves 
the good, and disapproves the evil. 

But, by the Bible's being the revelation, or 
inspiration of God, I mean that it is a book of 
true and faithful statements. The writers were 
inspired, or instructed by the Lord, to compile the 
book as a volume of facts as they actually took 
place. And, whether the writers came to the 
knowledge of things recorded by ordinary or 
extraordinary means they were divinely instructed 
to write and transmit them to posterity as truths, 



32 PRELIMINARY REMARKS, &C. 

which the Deity considered of importance to be 
known by all future generations. It may be the 
sayings and doings of wicked men, or wicked 
angels, and in themselves true or false : — God 
inspired men to write them down as facts, — things 
that actually transpired, just as they are recorded. 
What is related that the devil said and did, is 
related, not as what God approved, but as what 
was really said and done. Not that God inspired 
sinful beings to do and say what they did, but 
inspired his holy prophets to record what they said 
and did, as matters of actual occurrence ; and 
their pens were so guided and guarded, as not to 
record a mistake, ox any thing false, or unnecessary 
to be transmitted to posterity. 

In recording things future, and of course, which 
human sagacity could not have discovered, the 
writers were informed of them by him, who " seeth 
the end from the beginning," and who has access 
to the mind in an extraordinary manner, and then 
directed them to put those revealed things upon 
record, as matters of direct revelation. So of the 
laws, doctrines and duties, which God saw neces- 
sary for men in their individual and social rela- 
tions. While they were directed what to write, 
they clothed the sentiments in their own language 
and style, and were so superintended by the Spirit 
of inspiration, as not to record a mistake, but to 
convey the whole truth as God would have it. 
This is what I understand Peter to mean when 
he says, " The prophecy came not in old time by 
the will of man, but holy men of God spake as 
they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 



OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 33 

The history, geography, chronology and biog- 
raphy you find in the Bible, are all true statements 
of facts, times, places and character. 

And here I wish to retain the distinction 
I make between the kinds of inspiration. The 
inspired writers were under the guidance of the 
Spirit of God, to write what was true and neces- 
sary to be revealed and transmitted to succeeding 
generations. What of history, &x. they did not 
remember or know, God brought to their recol- 
lection and knowledge, and directed them to 
record. What they did know, and God thought 
proper to be embodied for man's use, he directed 
them also to write down as matters of fact. But, 
it should always be remembered, that it no more 
follows that God approved of all the sentiments 
and actions there recorded, than that the histori- 
an approves of all contained in his history ; or 
that you approve of everything you relate. 

I think now you will not misunderstand what I 
mean, when I say that the Bible is divine revela- 
tion or the inspiration of God. 

I have been the more particular on this point, 
because I consider it a matter of no small mo- 
ment, that you have a clear and correct under- 
standing of the nature and character of the divine 
writings. The sum is, the whole book is the 
book of God : — what is pure and holy he approv- 
ed and inspired; and all the rest he inspired men 
to record for the use of the world. 

I will now attempt to solve an astronomical dif- 
ficulty or two, which has been handed to me. 

The first is in Gen. 1 : 16— 19, in connection 
4 



34 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

with verses S — 5. The difficulty, as I understand 
it, lies here ; that in the 3d and 5th verses, 
' there was light and darkness, day and night, 
which composed the first day, and yet in the 
16th verse, where account is given of the fourth 
day, the sun and moon are spoken of as being 
then made. The question is, how was there light 
and day before the sun and moon were made ? \ 

I reply by saying, that, in the great work of 
creation, two Hebrew words are used, as also 
two in the Greek Septuagint, which answer to 
the Hebrew, the one translated created, the other 
made, as ch. 2 : 3. " Which God created and 
made." The first, which is rendered created, 
means, both in Hebrew and Greek, a calling 
into existence, the second, a giving of form to 
matter that lay in chaotic confusion. Verse first, 
" In the beginning God created the heavens and 
the earth," i. e. brought the matter of which they 
were composed, into being, when, as verse 2, 
" The earth was without form and void." Yet 
there was* light, though there was no sun inform, 
till, v. 16, " God made two great lights, " brought 
the light into form, which he called the sun, and 
gave shape to the matter of which the moon is 
composed, which was the fourth day. — There 
was, substantially day and night after light was 
created; though more distinctly after the sun was 
made, or brought into the form of a resplendent 
orb. 

Further, it may seem by verses 16, 17, as though 
the stars were made principally to give light upon 
the earth, when astronomers consider the fixed 



OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 35 

stars to be suns to other worlds. I have only to 
say that the sense is, (as the stars are brought in 
incidentally,) that the sun and moon are particu- 
larly referred to as giving light to the earth ; and 
the stars incidentally mentioned as being made. 

There is another difficulty suggested, Joshua, 
10. "The sun stood stills 

Suffice it to say here, that God inspired the 
Bible in the language common people could un- 
derstand. If it had been written with scientific 
exactness, it could be understood only by scientific 
men. % Indeed, modern astronomers, when they 
do not purposely express themselves scientifically, 
use a similar language.' So our Almanacs al- 
ways express it ; and so we all say, the sun rises 
and sets. And for the same reason Joshua said, 
" The sun stood still." 

But I am asked, " If the sun stood still, or the 
solar system stopped in its revolution but for a 
moment, what would be the consequences ?" 

Should I answer as a mere philosopher, I should 
say that the whole system would become com- 
pletely unhinged, and wild confusion would run 
through the whole. But if I were to answer as a 
divine. I should say, that God could stop the mo- 
tion of the whole, and set the whole in motion 
again without the least derangement ; for He, 
who constituted the laws of matter, can control 
them as he pleases. — So of the shadow going 
back ten degrees upon the dial of Ahaz : 2 
Kings, 20 : 11. Let none object to such displays 
of power : for is it not a thing to be desired, that 
God should occasionally perform wonders, to 



36 ARGUMENTS OF THE 

remind the world of his power, and impress the 
minds of men, who are so prone to forget him, of 
his infinite greatness and supremacy , that the 
nations may fear before him ? 



LECTURE III. 

ARGUMENTS FOR THE TRUTH OP THE BIBLE. 
1. MANKIND NEED A REVELATION FROM GOD. 
2. THAT WHAT IT TESTIFIES OF GOD AND MAN 
ACCORDS WITH REASON. OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

We will now turn our attention more directly 
to the claims of the Bible. And you will allow 
me to observe, that it is a matter of primary 
concern with us, whether this book, which presents 
itself before the world with such lofty claims, be 
indeed entitled to the respect, honor and dignity 
of the book of God. — The question before us is, 
whether such claims can be plainly and honorably 
sustained. If they can be, it is of the last im- 
portance to know it. It deserves then the most 
serious examination, and most patient investiga- 
tion. Let us approach it, therefore, with a can- 
did mind, and with an open and honest desire to 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 37 

know the truth concerning the claims of this 
book. And may the Lord help us all to give the 
subject, which concerns us all alike, due deliber- 
ation and regard. 

My text is what the learned enemies of Christ 
said to the man born blind, whose eyes Jesus had 
opened ; recorded John 9 : 29. " We know that 
God spake unto Moses." The matter to them 
was beyond dispute, '.' we knuio that God spake 
unto Moses." 

My first argument to prove the Bible a divine 
revelation, is, that it is just such a revelation as 
mankind need. 

It has been proved, I trust, that mankind need 
a revelation from Him, who is of infinite wisdom, 
knowledge and goodness. Among all the writ- 
ings of the wisest and best sages of antiquity, 
none has ever been found to have such influence 
in reforming the morals of men civilizing the 
savage state, and rendering them happy y as the 
Bible. That their morals are reformed by it, and 
society improved is evident to every one, who has 
taken almost no pains to inform himself. Infidels 
themselves, and even the most talented among 
them, have confessed it; and confessed too, that 
the powerful sensibilities and passions of human 
nature have been greatly cultivated and improv- 
ed, and society greatly benefitted by the influ- 
ence of the Bible. — In Hume's history of England 
he remarks to this effect ; The Puritans had 
the purest morality, and the English nation were 
indebted to them for the first spark of liberty that 
was ever struck out in that kingdom." And Na- 
*4 S 



38 ARGUMENTS OF THE 

poleon told the Catholic priests, that ? the Protes- 
tants were the best subjects he had/ I need 
make no comment on the character, and habits of 
the Puritans in England, and the Protestants in 
France; for their adherence to the principles of 
the Bible have been proverbial. Many enlightened 
unbelievers in divine revelation have been willing 
to support the public teaching of that system 
simply on political views, as it is the best of all 
systems to promote order and happiness in 
community. — When the French nation, which 
had adopted the principles of Voltaire, who said 
he could revolutionize Europe with his quill, as 
he did, had reduced his principles to practice, and 
thus ' tried to do without God/ and without the 
Sabbath, and without the Bible, and found anarchy 
and bloodshed to follow in train, they began to 
try to retrace their steps, in the persuasion that 
the Bible was more friendly to the happiness of 
the Republic, than any other system. 

The noble and virtuous Socrates labored hard 
to reform the young men of Athens, and succeed- 
ed to some extent, but far short of his expectations, 
with all his admirable philosophy, and said ' he 
despaired of a thorough reformation, till God 
should reveal a better system, and that system 
come clothed with the highest authority.' 

And should it now be asked, What makes us 
to differ from infidel or heathen nations 1 Why 
are not our footsteps marked with blood and all 
abominations to satiate the malignity of human 
depravity, or to appease the insatiable passions of 
imaginary deities, and offering human sacrifices 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 39 

by hundreds and thousands? Why are not ten 
thousand of our widows in a year, as in India, 
burning upon the funeral pile of their departed 
husbands, and thus many ten thousands of chil- 
dren, bereaved of both parents at once, left to 
perish, or left to the mercy of a rude, inhospita- 
ble and inhuman world ? — I ask, what but a rev- 
elation from a Being of infinite wisdom and be- 
nevolence can dispel the clouds of ignorance and 
superstition, reform the world by taming the fe- 
rocity and softening the unfeelingness of man's 
depraved nature ? Did not Plato and others ac- 
knowledge their need of instruction from heaven, 
such as their philosophy failed to impart ? Not- 
withstanding the Greeks were a scientific, polite, 
and refined people in many important respects, 
yet, according to the testimony of their wisest 
philosophers and statesmen, they were extremely 
debased and corrupt in their morals. The temple 
of Venus was thronged by people of all class- 
es, many of their virtuous philosophers not ex- 
cepted. 

And here I may remark, that the term virtue, 
meant, in Rome, the love of country. And Vol- 
taire says, that * in Italy and France the word 
means the love of the arts and sciences ; and that 
it meant the same in Greece. ' If they lived up 
to their religious systems, whatever they were, 
they were virtuous. As we call him virtuous, who 
lives up the principles of the Bible. David 
Hume adopted the principles of Socrates, Seneca 
and others, that adultery and suicide are lawful. 
And that the religion of nature not only taught 



40 ARGUMENTS OF THE 

and exhorted to such practices, but exhorted to 
deceit and revenge; while the doctrines and du- 
ties stated and defended in the Bible, if believed 
and reduced to practice, would effectually over- 
turn all inhuman and detestable practices; would 
make every man the friend of every man, intro- 
duce universal peace and good will, supersede all 
the vast apparatus of war, locks, bolts, and pris- 
ons ; and the grand strife among men would be 
ivho would do the other the most good. No 
book but the Bible, or what was probably taken 
from it, ever taught or produced such happy 
results. 

Let me further say, that there is not a law, 
prohibition, requisition, ordinance, or institution 
in the Bible, that militates with the best good of 
man. I say more, that man's highest happiness 
is <indissolubly connected with obedience to the 
whole law. The benevolent Legislator of the 
universe has so wisely constituted things, that the 
most obedient are the most happy. Hence perfect 
obedience is perfect happiness. Does not the 
Bible then, which contains such, and none but 
such laws, carry with it irrefragable proof of di- 
vinity 1 

And I may further remark, that it was reserved 
for the Bible to bring life and immortality to 
light, and distinctly teach the way to enjoy the 
favor of the supreme Ruler and Judge of the 
universe, of which Plato and many other distin- 
guished philosophers, who had a longing after im- 
mortality^ confessed that they knew nothing with 
certainty* 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 41 

And may I not further remark that the laics of 
the Bible have been copied, imitated or partially 
borrowed by the most enlightened nations. The 
best human laws in all Christendom, and these 
are the best among the nations, are a transcript 
or near imitation of those laws, and show, by 
evident features, whence their chief excellence 
was derived. And I think it may be safely stated, 
that whoever is acquainted with the history of 
nations destitute of the Bible, will be convinced 
of the amazing inadequacy of the best of their 
systems of religion and morality to render their 
condition, as rational and social beings, even 
tolerable. The goodness or badness of principles 
is to be tested by the adoption of them, and re- 
ducing them to practice, or by carrying them out 
into their legitimate consequences. Take, then, 
the grand and leading principles, which consti- 
tute the substance of the Bible. Reduce to uni- 
versal practice one cardinal sentiment which runs 
through the book of God ; viz. " Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy 
neighbor as thyself, " and the condition of society 
must be good. 

But what are the legitimate effects of the best 
systems of paganism 1 Take one of them and 
carry it out in practice ; viz. ' Every man 
lias a right to procure his own greatest good in 
the way he may think most eligible.' Without 
comment, you know what would be the condition 
of the people were such a principle practiced. 
And here I will answer another objection ; viz. 
" Judging the Bible by the effects it has produced 



42 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

on mankind, it leaves no mark of a divine 
original." 

My first reply to this is, that we are not to 
judge of the value of a thing by the use that is 
actually made of it, but by the good it would pro- 
duce if properly improved. Because gold is used 
for the nefarious purposes of bribery and oppres- 
sion, of slavery and war, will you say that gold is 
a bad thing ? So you are not to judge of Chris- 
tian principles by the use wicked men make of 
them, but by their legitimate consequences in 
practice. 

I ask, then, with a stronger emphasis than 
ever, what would be the state of the world if the 
following principle were universally drawn out 
into practice? " Whatsoever ye would that 

MEN SHOULD DO UNTO YOU, DO YE EVEN SO TO 

them?" If it would not be heaven upon earth, 
it would be a near resemblance of it. 

I close this head with the beautiful description 
of Christian benevolence 'given by an eminent 
statesman, member of the British Parliament. 
The elegant sentence is this : " True Christian 
benevolence resembles great and majestic rivers, 
which flow from an unfailing and abundant source. 
Silent and peaceful in their outset, they begin by 
dispensing beauty and comfort to every cottage 
by which they pass. In their further progress 
they fertilize provinces, and enrich kingdoms. 
At length pouring themselves into the ocean, 
where, changing their names, but not their nature, 
they spread throughout the world the expansive 
tide of their beneficence." 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 43 

I now proceed to another argument in favor of 
the divine inspiration of the Bible, 

2. What it testifies of the character of God 
and man, is harmonious with reason. 

In this respect, the book of revelation seems to 
be little less than the second edition of the book 
of nature. 1 mean by this, that whatever the 
Bible declares of God and man, as to character, 
may be discovered by reason. 

The Bible coincides with reason in ascribing 
to God all natural and moral perfections, and in 
representing him as worthy of all love and service. 
But because this is not discovered by men without 
a revelation, is no proof that they could not have 
discovered it. The secret is, " They did not like 
to retain God in their knowledge." Their defi- 
ciencies and absurdities are not to be charged to 
the darkness of reason, but to the darkness of 
their understandings, which arises from the moral 
blindness of their hearts; two things, which 
Hume, Bolingbroke, and Voltaire acknowledge 
to exist in human nature. 

The Bible harmonizes with reason, too, rela- 
tive to the character of man. 

Read all history, and unite its testimony with 
your own observation, and see if the Bible bo not 
reasonable in its description of the human char- 
acter. Reason responds to the declaration of the 
Bible, that " the heart is deceitful above all 
things, and desperately wicked." In no respect 
is there a discord between the Bible and nature. 
The Bible may, in many things, be above reason, 
but in nothing contradictory to it. For instance; 



44 ARGUMENTS OP THE 

Reason teaches that there exists at the hand of 
the universe an eternal Being of infinite perfec- 
tions. So does the Bible. But neither explain 
the manner of his existence. Therefore the objec- 
tion against the Bible on the score of mystery, 
lies with equal force against reason. The objec- 
tion before me is this; ' All obscure and mysteri- 
ous parts of the Bible ought to be rejected as a rev- 
elation from God, because such a Being as God 
would make no communications to men, which 
they could not understand, but are obscure and 
mysterious.' In a logical form, the objection 
is this ; * An infinite Being as God is, would make 
no obscure and mysterious communications to 
men ; But the Bible contains obscurity and mys- 
tery : Therefore all that is obscure and mysteri- 
ous in the Bible cannot be from God/ But this 
objection lies as much against reason as revelation. 
Can reason, which proclaims the existence of God, 
inform you how he exists, or clear away all obscu- 
rity and mystery from his existence ? If not, then 
you must, to be consistent, reject reason. Nor 
can reason inform you how mind actuates matter, 
or how I can raise my arm by an act of my will, 
which without the spirit, would be as motionless 
and insensible as the limb of a tree. Further, a 
truth ox fact may be revealed, while there may 
be many things obscure and mysterious about that 
truth or fact. It is a revealed truth or proposi- 
tion, that God exists. This is a plain proposition, 
and as easy to be believed as any other proposi- 
tion. You are told that incorporeal beings exist 
in heaven ; and it is as easy to believe this, as it is 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 45 

to believe that human beings live in China. But 
whatever of mystery or obscurity there may be 
about those existences, we can understand the 
bare propositions as easily as any other And 
we can understand the proposition, that there are 
*ystcnes, and yet not be able to develope them 
1 here is something obscure and mysterious in the 
doctrine of eclipses to such as do not understand 
that branch of astronomy; and yet, who does not 
believe in the existence of eclipses? And who 
cannot understand that eclipses do exist ? 

But the objection goes farther, "that the most 
Learned find obscurity and mystery in the Bible." 
And do they not find some obscurity and mystery 
about the existence of God? and the union of 
spirit and matter? An elegant French writer 
remarks, that " either religion must tell us nothing 
about God, or what it tells must be beyond our 
capacities." And I add, that it is wit thin* to 
believe that God exists, and another, to understand 
how he exists. So we can believe that mystery 
exists, and not understand how it exists; and this 
is not revealed. It is no part of revelation to 
develope mysteries, while it informs us of the 
existence of beings and things, about which many 
things are obscure and mysterious. What objec- 
tions, therefore, can lie against the Bible, more 
than against nature, on account of obscurity and 
mystery? The man that is unable to dissect a 
gnat, should be slow to assume the powers of 
anatomizing an infinite mind. Are we not to 
expect that a written revelation from an infinite 
Being should contain propositions, which, though 
o 



46 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

plain in themselves and easy to be understood, yet 
surrounded with obscurity and enveloped in mys- 
tery ; as great, at least, as the volume of nature ? 
Shall we reject both natural and reveale d religion, 
and become skeptics ; or believe and receive 
both, which is surely the most reasonable. The 
moment you will clear one proposition in the 
volume of nature of mystery and obscurity, I will 
engage to clear the whole volume of revelation of 
all that is obscure and mysterious. For we come to 
the certain knowledge of many things in connection 
with which there are many things inexplicable. 
Mr, Locke recognizes this principle when he 
says, " Certainty of knowledge is to perceive the 
agreement, or disagreement of ideas, as expressed 
in any proposition. We have the knowledge of 
our own existence by intuition; of other things by 
sensation. Reason first discovers and finds out 
proofs ; and secondly, disposes of them regularly 
and methodically, and laying them in a clear and 
Jit order, to make their connection and force 
plainly and easily perceived : Thirdly, in per- 
ceiving their connection ; and then making a right 
conclusion. Reason is natural revelation. Rev- 
elation is natural reason enlarged by a new set of 
discoveries, communicated by God immediately, 
of which reason vouches the truth by the testi- 
mony and proofs it gives that they came from 
God." 

I say, then, if we will believe in no system 
about which there is mystery ; in no proposition 
that is involved in obscurity, then we must not 
believe any proposition however plain and demon- 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 47 

strable, provided we cannot understand everything 
about it. Then we must not believe in the ex- 
istence of an infinite God, for his existence is 
mysterious : nor in our own ; for we are a mystery 
to ourselves. Nor in the existence of animal or 
plant, for there are many things, about them all, 
which we cannot comprehend or understand. 
All is ideal, or else plain propositions are involved 
in obscurity and mystery, which propositions we 
can receive and understand without understand- 
ing everything which those propositions involve. 

The next objection that lies before me is raised 
from a " comparison of the moral virtues of 
heathen philosophers, as Xenophon, Seneca, 
Socrates, Plato and Confucius, with the great 
men of Israel, as Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David 
and Solomon, under a supposed revelation. " 

I have no disposition to depreciate the moral 
virtues of the former, nor unduly exalt those of 
the latter. We will recognize a principle already 
brought to view, — that the nature and value of 
principles are to be determined by their legitimate 
consequences in practice. Now if those philoso- 
phers named by the objectors, and others that 
might be named, had lived up to such principles 
as the Bible sustains, how was it that they thought 
suicide lawful, and how commit it, as two of 
them did, and in harmony with their principles ? 
Xenophon and Plato were the pupils of Socrates, 
and though moral men in general, doubtless im- 
bibed the principles of their preceptor. And Con- 
fucius, though he taught many excellent precepts, 
and was an excellent man, yet he held to princi- 
ples that were latitudinarian. 



48 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

But still the question is not how they actually 
do practice under their respective systems, but how 
they would practice, if they strictly conformed to 
them. None will dispute that the French, in 
their ' terrible republic/ acted upon the infidel 
and atheistic principles of Voltaire; nor dispute 
that our pilgrim fathers, in laying the noble foun- 
dation of this free, and enlightened, and happy 
republic, acted on the principles they found in 
the Bible. Still, I repeat, that the great question 
for ultimate decision is, not how men do practice, 
but how they woxdd practice if they acted in ac- 
cordance with their respective principles. 

' The character of David and Solo?non,' it is 
objected, * was less moral than that of the men, 
who had not a revelation. ' 

As to David, he was not a good man till after 
the affair of Uriah ; and was 4 a man after God's 
own heart/ only in his official character. And 
as to Solomon, it is probable he became a good 
man in the latter part of his life, as the book of 
Ecclesiastes seems to indicate. 

And his Songs, which are objected to as divine 
revelation, written in the glowing figures of He- 
brew poetry, are an allegory to represent the 
love and strong attachment of Christ to his saints 
and they to him, and are considered by men, 
who hope they have experienced the renewal of 
the Holy Ghost, 'profitable for doctrine.' We 
know there is such a thing as false delicacy, and 
fastidious taste. Language, too, which would be 
considered pure and chaste in one age, would not 
be considered so in another. This remark may 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 49 

apply to many parts of sacred and profane writ- 
ings, as well as to the Song of songs. 

But, ' the cruel and barbarous acts of Israel 
and their leaders,' is brought against the divine 
inspiration of the Bible. 

I ask here, if the civil laws of the Jewish com- 
monwealth were not superior in point of equity 
and justice, to the laws of Lycurgus and Solon, or 
any other code the world has ever seen I — But 
respecting the real or supposed cruelties of Israel 
in their wars, &c. these prove human depravity, 
of which the Bible gives abundant testimony, but 
do not disprove its inspiration ; for that book no- 
where approves of such barbarities as it records. 
Besides ; the destruction or punishment of some 
of the nations was by divine command; but not 
the cruelties attending the punishments. Has not 
God a right, as chief Magistrate, to punish his 
rebellious subjects in any way his infinite wisdom 
may dictate, whether by fire, famine, earthquakes, 
inundations, pestilence ox sword? to send one sin- 
ful nation against another, or command his own 
people to inflict punishment on the wicked nations 
according as he shall judge expedient, as well as 
our government punish according to crime 1 Is 
not this according to the most enlightened notions 
of public justice ? Human governments may err 
in apportioning punishment to crime, but God can- 
not. And, I may add, he alone is competent to 
decide how much punishment sins committed 
against himself deserve. Now, if this sentiment 
is according to the dictates of our enlightened 
reason, as I think it is, then God could command 
*5 



50 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

Moses and Joshua to be his executioners in his 
administration of public justice, and he, not be 
chargeable with injustice, nor they with cruelty. 

There is another objection against the necessity 
of divine revelation, and again&t the goodness of 
God, on the principle that it were necessary; viz. 
" But a small part of the world has it. )} The logic of 
the objection is this; if a revelation from God be 
necessary, and God is just and good, then all men 
would have it. But all men have it not ; therefore 
such revelation is not necessary, or God is not im- 
partial and good, as he does not give it to all. 

One thing to be remembered here, is, that one 
alleged reason for the necessity of a divine reve- 
lation to man, is his depravity. Another thing to 
be remembered is, that this depravity is the rea- 
son of men's rejection of a revelation from God. 
And I suppose that few, if any, will dispute the 
position, that men are now, as they have been, 
very unwilling to receive the Bible as the word of 
God, although its authenticity be as well attested 
as that of any other book. 

And I further observe, that the Bible has been 
within the reach of all nations. The Egyptians 
had Joseph and Israel in the midst of them more 
than four hundred years. The Assyrian and Per- 
sian empires had the Hebrews by and among 
them. In their prosperous and independent state, 
* their sound went into all the earth ; ' and in 
their captivities, divine inspiration was in the 
midst of them. The Bible was carried through 
the Grecian and Roman empires, and proposed to 
rulers and ruled. About two hundred years after 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE, 51 

Christ, Constantine, emperor of Rome, when she 
was mistress of the world, embraced Christianity, 
and propagated it through the world as the uni- 
versal religion for man ; and now, the nineteenth 
century finds three fourths of the world destitute 
of the Bible!! Where then does the fault lie? 
Does it prove that the world do not need it, or 
that God is partial and not good, because men 
will not have it? If you offer your life-boat to 
men on a wreck, and they refuse your kind offer 
and drown, does that prove they did not need your 
boat, or that you iverc unkind ? 

I may add here, too, that Confucius, that noble 
Chinese philosopher, who lived about the date of 
some of the last prophets, and probably had some 
knowledge of them, trained his three thousand 
disciples more exactly on the principles of divine 
revelation than any other man destitute of the 
Bible, yet was unsuccessful in bringing his own 
countrymen to receive and practice his excellent 
precepts. Notwithstanding he was a nobleman, 
and prime minister, neither he nor his good prin- 
ciples could influence the people to virtue, or to 
the adoption and practice of those principles. 
And such was the dissoluteness of the king and 
his court, that he retired to private life out of dis- 
gust, and died, at a good old age, in solitude ! 
And when he died, so celebrated were his virtues, 
that even the dissolute king exclaimed, " The 
gods have removed him from the earth, because 
they wished to punish her inhabitants." 

I will close this lecture with one or two brief 
quotations. Says a learned Chancellor of one of 



52 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

our middle states ; "The general diffusion of 
the Bible is the most effectual way to give efficacy 
to the just precepts of international and municipal 
law. It most pointedly condemns every species 
of cruelty, unkindness, uncharitableness, selfish- 
ness and hardness of heart. A despotic govern- 
ment may live without the Bible ; but a Republic 
cannot. The melioration of the moral condition 
of fallen man, has been in every age, a favorite 
object with the philanthropic legislator. For 
this object Solon propounded his theory, and Ly- 
curgus his, and Numa his. In modern times the 
experiment has been made of erecting a republic 
without the Bible ; made, too, under every circum- 
stance that could aid the hope of success; the 
profoundest statesmen, the most learned philoso- 
phers, and most chivalrous and able chieftains, — 
the mightiest combination of talent the world ever 
beheld, united in the daring enterprize. " The 
terrible republic " was created; but from her 
withering eye, polluting touch, and deadly em- 
brace, even the fathers that had formed her recoiled 
with dismay, and sought refuge from the work- 
manship of their own hands, under the banners of 
an iron despotism." 

I only add here a few words of lord Boling- 
broke, an English deist; "No religion ever ap- 
peared in the world, whose natural tendency was 
so much directed to promote the peace and hap- 
piness of mankind, as Christianity . No system 
can be more simple and plain than that of natural 
religion as it stands in the gospel. The system 
of religion, which Christ published, and his evan- 



TRUTH OE THE BIBLE. 53 

gel ists recorded, is a complete system to all the 
purposes of religion, natural and revealed. The 
gospel is, in all cases, one continued lesson of the 
strictest morality and justice, of benevolence and 
universal charity." 

I presume you will not task me to reconcile 
these frank concessions of this noble lord with 
his deistical writings ; or to tell how a great man 
could say so much, and yet endeavor to annihilate 
the book he had so eulogized. 1 can only ac- 
count for it on the principle that the understanding 
sometimes gets the better of the depraved affec- 
tions, and then speaks out the truth. O, may 
every heart speak out the same truth, know it by 
happy and large experience, and enjoy it forever. 
Such as are of this character have internal evi- 
dence of the divine original of the Bible, while 
sinful nature, by hating and opposing it, gives 
evidence that the book is holy and from God ; 
altogether unlike the moral character of the carnal 
heart. 



54 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 



LECTURE IV. 

3. THE BIBLE HARMONIZES WITH ITSELF. 4. 
MANNER AND CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH 
FACTS WERE RELATED. OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

That the Bible is divine revelation, is evident, 

3. As it harmonizes ivith itself. 

We have seen that it harmonizes with reason; 
let us now see its internal harmony. 

That the Bible was written by different men, 
and at different and far distant periods of time, 
is evident from its own testimony, and that of 
collateral writers. 

What we call profane history, (and we call it 
so to distinguish it from sacred,) proves that those 
books and those men existed at the times, which 
the Bible testifies they did. Still, all parts of it 
agree. From Moses to Isaiah, was 700 years ; from 
Isaiah to Malachi, 300 : from him to John, who 
closed the book, 400. So that from Moses till 
John's death, in round numbers, was 1500 years. 
Notwithstanding this length of time, there is no 
jar, but, perfect harmony through the whole, as 
one connected system, leading the mind to the 
same great objects and results, and it carries upon 
the face of it the design of a Master. Does this 
have the appearance of forgery ? Wicked men 
could not if they would, and would not if they 
could write such a book. It prophesies evil 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 55 

against them. And good men would not if they 
could, impose upon the world a book of fables 
and falsehoods for divine revelation. And I can 
see no inducements adequate to move any man or 
body of men to make such an imposition if it were 
practicable. Hear a few lines from Dryden, to 
this point. 

"Whence but from heaven could men unskilled in arts, 
In different nations born, in different parts, 
Weave such agreeing truths ? or how or why, 
Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie ? 
Unasked their pains, ungrateful their advice, 
Starving their gain, and martyrdom their prize." 

It should always be remembered, that the his- 
tory of the Bible is of far greater antiquity than 
any other writings : Else, how could it show, as 
it does in many instances, the origin of absurd 
fables found in other histories of those remote 
times? This shows their greater antiquity; and 
also that other writers speak of, and quote from 
these sacred books. In this connection I ask 
how it can be accounted for, that, during the long 
period of fifteen' hundred years in which ' the 
Bible was in writing by princes, priests, shepherds 
and fishermen, (and without comparing notes,) 
and who wrote laws, history, prophecy, odes, 
devotional exercises, proverbs, parables, doctrines 
and controversy, and yet all exactly coincide in the 
exhibition they give us of the perfections, works, 
truths and will of God ; of the nature, situation 
and obligations of man ; of sin and of salvation, 
of this world and the next, and, in short, in all 



56 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

things connected with our duty, interest and com- 
fort,' and yet no disagreement, but harmony among 
them all? " Apparent inconsistencies," says an 
English writer, once an unbeliever, " may indeed 
perplex the superficial reader, but they wili all 
vanish after a more accurate investigation. The 
exact coincidence that is perceived among those 
by whom the Bible was written, by the diligent 
student, is most astonishing, and cannot be ac- 
counted for on any mere rational principles without 
admitting that they wrote by divine inspiration." 
The contrary opinion would involve a greater 
mystery than is involved in admitting that those 
writers were moved by the Holy Ghost. It is 
said that * Mohammed produced his koran by little 
at a time: This occasioned an evident incon- 
sistency of one part with another, concerning 
which he only said, that God had a right to change 
his laws as he saw good.' A very cheap and easy 
way to get over the difficulty. 

In support of what I have said respecting the 
distance of time, and different persons concerned 
ia writing the Old Testament, and yet harmoni- 
ous, I refer you to the Chaldean, Grecian and 
Roman histories : and some of those historians, 
with Josephus and others, respecting the New 
Testament, 

Respecting the harmony of the Bible, I will 
make one quotation from Irenseus, who lived not 
more than one age after the death of John; par- 
ticularly the oneness of the belief of the Christians 
of those days. He says ; " This faith the church 
has received, and though dispersed over the whole 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 57 

world, assiduously preserves, as if she inhabited a 
single house, and believes in these things as hav- 
ing but one heart and one soul, and with perfect 
harmony proclaims, teaches, hands down these 
things as though she had but one mouth. For 
though there are various and dissimilar languages 
in the world, yet the power of the faith transmit- 
ted, is one and the same. Neither the churches 
in Germany, nor in Iberia, (i. e. Spain,) nor 
among the Celtae, (in France ;) nor in the east, 
nor in Egypt, nor in Lybia, nor in the middle 
regions of the earth, (i. e. Jerusalem and the ad- 
jacent districts,) believe or teach any other doc- 
trines ; but as the sun is one and the same 
throughout the whole world, so the preaching of 
the truth shines everywhere, and enlightens all 
men, who are willing to come to the knowledge of 
the truth. Nor will the most powerful in speech 
among the governors of the churches say anything 
more than these ; (for no one can be above his 
master,) nor the most feeble anything less. For 
as there is but one faith, he who is able to spt^ak 
much, cannot enlarge, nor he^ who can say little, 
diminish it " 

In the first three centuries, you may be re- 
ferred to ' Clement of Alexandria, (besides the 
one just cited, and Josephus,) Tertullian of Car- 
thage, Origen of Alexandria, Cyprian of Carthage, 
Gregory and Dionysius, Lactantius, and many 
cotemporary writers, as well as Eusebius of 
Cesarea, a voluminous and diligent writer, as 
Professor Paley calls him.' After him all Chris- 
tian writers since have been as full of quotations 
6 



58 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

from the Bible, as the sermons of modern divines. 
I also might have mentioned Ignatius, who lived 
within 40 years after the ascension, bishop of 
Antioch. If any should still question the harmo- 
ny of the Bible with itself, or with the dictates of 
reason, 1 recommend to such, as I may to all, the 
reading of Butler's Analogy. 

Shall I now need to enlarge on the next objec- 
tion before me, i that the internal evidence of the 
Bible does not warrant a belief of its divine origi- 
nal ? • Yet I will just add, that when we consider 
the purity of its doctrines, principles and precepts ; 
the equity of its laws, requisitions and prohibi- 
tions ; its agreement with reason ; all tending to 
the greatest happiness of man, whether as a mere 
citizen, of this world, or a candidate for immor- 
tality ; its genuine simplicity, unity and impar- 
tiality ; its loftiness of thought, sublimity of style, 
and universality of application ; that it approves 
and requires nothing but what is good and best, 
and all that is so, and prohibits nothing but what 
is evil, and all that is evil ; we wonder most, that 
any, who have made themselves duly acquainted 
with its contents, should ever question its divine 
original. We are not astonished that Saome Jen- 
nings, a leading deist in England, when, by re- 
quest of his deistical brethren, he undertook to 
write against the Bible, and began and carefully 
read along to find its weakness and detect its 
errors, soon became convinced of its divine 
original : he wrote a book, indeed, but gave it 
the title of ' The internal evidence of the Scrip- 
tures. ' 






TRUTH 01 TIM BIBLE. 



59 



Here I will meet another objection, which is 
supposed to lie against the internal evidence of 
the Bible; viz. God's repenting; as Gen. 6: 6, 
7. " And it repented the Lord that he had made 
man on the earth," &lc. 

I suppose all will admit, that the language of 
the Bible, as that of any other book, is to be un- 
derstood in a literal or figurative sense. Also, I 
suppose all will agree to the following rule of inter- 
pretation ; viz. the obvious or literal sense is the 
true sense, where necessity does not forbid, or 
require a different sense. We will try this case 
by this admitted rule. Therefore, can the infi- 
nite Jehovah repent in the common and literal 
meaning of the word ? Reason and Scripture 
unite to declare it impossible ; for the Bible is 
only the echo of reason when it says, * He is of 
one mind, and changes not.' We are then under 
the necessity of interpreting the passages of this 
description in a figurative sense. It is speaking 
after the manner of man : i. e. it is an accomoda- 
tion of language, which indeed admits of change, 
not in the mind of God, but in his dispensations 
towards men. God changed his providential 
dealings towards them, which appeared like re- 
pentance. His drowning the world he had made, 
had the appearance of sorrow that he had made 
it, as a man will abandon his work that does not 
answer his reasonable expectations. So, figura- 
tively speaking, God ' repented, grieved/ that he 
had made man, whose conduct was most unrea- 
sonable, and contrary to his law ; and, after wait- 
ing 120 years for their reformation, withdrew his 



60 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

teaching and restraining influences, and destroyed 
them by a flood, as a just magistrate will award 
due punishment to evil doers. The interpretation 
1 have given, is on the acknowledged principles of 
intepretatiou. 

As I am asked, I will briefly answer, ' What 
was done with the Lord's tribute ;' Num. 31 : 40. 
Compare Exod. 30: 11 — 16. The Lord's tri- 
bute was what he ordered the people to contribute 
for his worship and service, whether men as one 
tribe, or property, which he claimed by tax or 
otherwise, for religious use. And, this was done 
with it ; it was applied to that use ; passed into 
the hands and under the care of the priests to be 
employed in the worship and service of God, "As 
the Lord commanded Moses." 

As in a former lecture, I quoted from a Gre- 
cian philosopher, who testified, that the Cretians 
were always liars, it is objected, that David ?aid 
with reference to the Hebrews, that * all men 
were liars.' i. e. • It was no more true that the 
heathen were liars, than those under a supposed 
revelation.' Now the reason of my quoting that 
philosopher and other authors, was to show what 
was the practice of the heathen, and that their 
practice was according to their principles; while 
the wrong practice of such as had a revelation 
from God, was not according to revealed princi- 
ples, but according to their depraved propensities. 
And the way to test principles, is not how men 
do practice under them, but. how they would prac- 
tice, if they acted in exact conformity to them. 
As that philosopher gave the general character of 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 61 

the Cretians, David gave the general character of 
his nation. " I said in my haste " not in a hasty, 
and inconsiderate manner, but in his haste when 
fleeing from the unbridled rage of Absalom, who 
had broken all the commandments. If my son, 
and so many of my subjects as are now with him 
in this monstrous usurpation, whom I have laid 
under a thousand obligations, can be guilty of 
such gross rebellion and ingratitude, in whom can 
I place confidence ? Alas, all men are untrust- 
worthy ! I know of none in whom I can safely 
repose confidence! 

But I must pass to another argument in favor 
of the Bible as the book of God, which is, 

4. The manner and circumstances under which 
facts were related. 

If the things said to be done were acknowledged 
to be true by those, who had their senses to bear 
witness; and in remembrance of which monuments 
were erected, and institutions were established, 
they could not be an imposition. If the deeds 
were done openly, in view of a multitude ; if 
monuments were erected in remembrance of what 
had recently taken place; and if institutions were 
observed from the time in which they were said to 
be done, they must be true. For example ; it is 
said that Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt : 
that the king refused to let them go ; that by the 
mouth of Moses God threatened, and by his hand 
actually brought many judgments on Egypt, on 
account of which Pharaoh let them go: The king 
having still hardened his heart, (or God hardened 
it, which is the same thing ; i. e. let him do as he 
*6 



62 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

chose to do,) pursued the Hebrews with all the 
chariots of Egypt, their military strength; that 
they soon came in sight of the departing and ter- 
rified Israelites, hemmed in by a rough, thorny 
wilderness on the one side, and on the other a 
hideous mountain looking down with frowning as- 
pect, before them the Red Sea heaving its sanguin- 
ary billows; behind them the exasperated Egyp- 
tians, pursuing with deadly hate ! At this most 
critical and eventful crisis, and all hope had fled, 
Moses stood forth and foretold their salvation, and 
the destruction of their pursuers; stretched forth 
his rod over the sea, the waters divided, they 
marched on, and their pursuers after them on dry 
ground ; Israel passed safely through, and the Egyp- 
tians were drowned ! Israel sang the praises of 
God, marched three days' journey in the wilder- 
ness, the bitter waters of Marah were sweetened, 
the law given from Sinai clothed in terror, they 
marched on with a pillar of cloud by day and pil- 
lar of fire by night ; they fed on manna, and drank 
water gushing and following them from a flinty 
rock ; Korah and company were swallowed up 
in the earth for their rebellion against God's ap- 
pointed leader of Israel. Now, all these things 
Moses did not pretend were done in secret, but 
appeals to their outward senses ; " Your eyes have 
seen all the great acts of the Lord, which he did." 
Is this the language of an impostor 1 Could Mo- 
ses make that multitude believe they had seen all 
those mighty deeds if they had not seen them ? 

Further ; the institution of the passover, which 
they perfectly understood, was kept sacredly by 
all from generation to generation. 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 63 

Moses, then, could not have imposed the writ- 
ings, which bear his name, upon the generation 
in which he lived. If untrue, they were easy of 
detection. And the monuments and institutions, 
which were known by that and succeeding gener- 
ations, transmitted from parents to children in un- 
broken succession, prove that they could not have 
been forged and obtain credence in any succeed- 
ing generation. Could those monuments and 
institutions be imposed on any generation follow- 
ing easier than on that generation? At what 
time could it be possible to raise monuments, 
make laws, and establish institutions, and pass 
them off as ancient things, which they had re- 
ceived by tradition, or as then recently taken 
place, unless the things reported were true? 
Could those monuments in Lexington, and on 
Bunker Hill obtain credence, if the facts they are 
designed to commemorate were not true ? The 
imposition would be quickly seen, and one stone 
would not be left upon another. So the monu- 
ment at Gilgal after the passing of Jordan, Josh- 
ua 4, could not be imposed on that generation ; 
and no easier on any generation succeeding, for 
the same impossibility would exist. So of the 
code of laws. Who could introduce a new code 
of laws now, and make the people all believe that 
they were the same the fathers had, and which we 
ourselves have always acknowledged ? Is there 
any generation on which such an imposition could 
possibly be made? — so of the institutions. 
There must be a time when they were first es- 
tablished ; and if the events they were designed 



64 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

to commemorate, were not true, they could receive 
no credence, and no succeeding generation could 
any easier be duped. The annual observance of 
the passover, the significancy of which they fully 
understood, was a standing evidence of the truth 
of the facts related. Also, the institution of cir- 
cumcision, which was 600 years before Moses, 
and which was sacredly observed by that people, 
through all their succeeding generations, helps 
to confirm the authenticity of their other recoids. 

Look at one thing farther : Moses transmitted 
to the people the law of ten commandments, wrote 
the judicial laws of the Commonwealth, and the 
law of ceremonies; delivered these to the priests 
to be read once in seven years to all the people : 
Joshua read the law, and Ezra, long after, to all 
the people ; and no doubt the priests did so in all 
their generations, both the blessings and the curs- 
ings. The rest of the Old Testament represents 
the Jews as such a stiff-necked and rebellious peo- 
ple, and foretells such desolations, that had they 
not believed it divine, would they have received 
it as such, and retained it as the oracles of God 1 

Should any still halt in this thing, let me ask, 
is there a man of us that could believe one that 
should tell us, and tell us with an oath and twenty 
witnesses, that he had stretched his staff over this 
little lake, upon which the waters divided, and we 
all passed through on dry ground 1 You would 
think that man a fool, or insane, who should as- 
sert it. 

Should any ask, how then did Mahomet estab- 
lish his religion ? I answer, as every historian 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 65 

will tell you, it icas by the sword. Were you to 
read of the many hundreds of thousands, if not 
millions that were slain to establish his religion, 
you would be persuaded that all the reason used, 
or no stronger reason was used, than there is in 
steel, 

A woman of a conquered place tested his high 
pretensions to be more than Christ, by putting 
poison into his supper, a leg of mutton she had 
cooked for him and his servants, of which one 
died immediately, and was the occasion of his 
death, which happened sometime after. And her 
apology was, ' If he had been a prophet of God, as 
he pretended, he would have known that it was 
poisoned.' 

We will now come to the New Testament. 
And I will introduce my remarks with the words 
of one of the greatest heathen monarchs that 
ever swayed a sceptre. It is recorded in Daniel 
6: 27. " He delivereth and rescueth, and he 
worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in 
earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power 
of the lions." The 4th and 5th chapters have 
similar concessions. 

The writings of the New Testament may be 
proved genuine much ill the same way as the 
Old 

And here I shall particularly bring into notice 
the miracles 9 which were said to be wrought by 
Christ. He never drew the sword to establish 
his religion ; nor Moses, nor the prophets, but 
appealed to reason and the senses. Said he, " If 
I do not the works of my Father, believe me not, 



66 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

but if I do, though you believe not me, believe the 
works.*' 

Now, if Christ wrought miracles openly, before 
a mixed multitude, in open day, what more proof 
was necessary, or what could they possibly have 
more in proof of anything ? And that he did so 
work miracles, is evident from his appeals to his 
learned enemies, as Moses did. If our senses are 
not admitted for evidence, what can be proved ? 

And that Christ lived in the age recorded, and 
wrought benevolent miracles, is evident from pro- 
fane, as well as sacred history. And here I am 
asked ; " What is the origin of the four Evange- 
lists ? " 

If by origin is meant, who composed them, 
I answer, the Spirit of the Lord directed those 
four men to compile the narrative contained in 
those books. The next question, '■• From what 
fountains did they draw ? " may have this addition- 
al reply ; they wrote what they knew to be true by 
the testimony of their senses, the Spirit of God 
directing them to write what they did, and super- 
intended so as to prevent their recording error, 
ust as he did the writers of the Old Testament, 
that they should give a true statement of whatever 
they were required to write. 

It is further asked, " For what readers in par- 
ticular, and with what aim did they write ? " An- 
swer ; they wrote for the Jews, in particular, and 
for all men generally, and for the purpose that all 
might believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah and 
Savior of the world. They were eye and ear 
witnesses, and could no easier be deceived thai: 



TRUTH OF TH2 BIBLE. G7 

j'ou can, that you now see and hear me. And his 
most sagacious and obdurate enemies could not 
gainsay the truth of the facts they witnessed : 
and they sought his life because he healed the sick 
and raised the dead, and were afraid that * all the 
world would believe on him.' And if the evange- 
lists had made any mistake in their records, there 
were enough to detect them with sufficient ease, 
and sufficient eagerness. Besides, they had no 
sinister motives to deceive ; for, in espousing the 
cause of Jesus of Nazareth, they sacrificed all 
worldly advantages, exposed themselves to the 
greatest sufferings, confiscation of property, 
stripes, imprisonment, and death itself. And 
certainly no prospect of future good could induce 
men of common understanding to try to pass a 
deception on the world, even if that were possi- 
ble. And when the apostles told the people they 
had been the murderers of Christ, instead of de- 
nying, they sullenly, and tacitly consented to the 
charge. 

After the resurrection of Christ, Paul asserts 
that he was seen by above five hundred at once. 
And besides this testimony, they proved his res- 
urrection to others by working miracles in his 
name, and thus supported the truth of what they 
testified by witness from heaven ; God bore testi- 
mony by the miracles he enabled them to work, 
or rather, miracles he wrought by their hands. 
And his enemies, and the persecutors of the 
apostles acknowledged that * notable miracles 
were wrought by their hands.' Was not this suf- 
ficient proof that those men were divinely author- 



68 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

ized to commit to writing what they did, and that 
they were the authors of the books to which their 
names are affixed ? Is better evidence required, 
or needed for anything ? Is it not ample 1 

Besides; the change of the sabbath, and the 
institutions of the Lord's supper and baptism, 
which have been observed ever since his ascen- 
sion, are standing witnesses of the truth of the 
New Testament. And, allow me to remark here, 
that the evidence of the authenticity of the New 
goes to prove that of the Old, and that they mu- 
tually prove each other. If the Old Testament 
is true, the New must be, for it is an evident ful- 
fillment of that ; a system carried through and 
completed, without which the Old would be incom- 
plete, and much of it altogether unmeaning. So, 
if the New Testament is authentic, the Old must 
be, not only as the New is necessary as the fulfill- 
ment and completion of the Old, bearing evident 
marks of such fulfillment and completion, but, also 
as the New Testament contains many references 
to the Old, and particular citations, often refer- 
ring to book and chapter, and always with the un- 
derstanding, that Christ and his apostles consid- 
ered the Old as the lively oracles of God. The 
proof is mutual. And need I add, that, profane 
history corroborates the testimony already pre- 
sented 1 Citations are often made to them and 
quotations taken from them both by friends and 
foes. So that we have as good reason, to believe 
that the books of the Bible were written by the 
persons whose names they bear, as we have to 
believe that the books ascribed to Cicero, Homer, 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. OV 

Virgil, Hume, or any other, were written by them. 
And if such human testimony is to be called in 
question in one case, it may be in the other, and 
in all. But if evidence abounds in favor of other 
ancient books, which are of later origin, evidence 
super abounds in favor of the most ancient, as 
these have a greater amount of collateral testi- 
mony. 

1 have not time, nor would it be desirable in 
these familiar lectures, to introduce the score or 
two of writers, both in favor and against the sacred 
volume, and those, who have incidentally referred 
to it, both Jewish, Christian and Pagan ; but it 
must suffice that I add here, that such evidence is 
very abundant, and more than any other book has 
or can have ; to say nothing more of the conces- 
sions of skeptical writers and their extraordinary 
modes of attack. The truth is, we must either 
believe nothing on human testimony, and thus fall 
into universal skepticism, or believe that the writ- 
ings of the Old and New Testaments, are what 
they claim, or purport to be. 

Here I will answer another query : " How, and 
at what time, did the four gospels become canoni- 
cal, to the exclusion of what is -called apocry- 
phal ? *' By apocryphal is meant, of doubtful 
authority, not belonging to the canon of Scrip- 
ture. As to "how the four gospels became ca- 
nonical, " i. e. considered divine revelation by 
common consent; I answer, by careful and criti- 
cal examination and patient comparison of all the 
evidence for and against the various manuscripts 
that had any claims or pretensions to be the word 
7 



70 



ARGUMENTS FOR THE 



of God. And as to the time token the canon was 
settled ; it was soon after they were published, 
and inspiration had ceased, which was probably 
when John, about the year 96, finished his 
course. 

I will further answer, in the words of an Eng- 
lish writer: " We may conclude, with the surest 
evidence of reason, that these Scriptures were 
handed down uncorrupted in the substantials of 
faith and mariners. These records being once 
dispersed through all Christian churches, though 
at a great distance from each other, from the be- 
ginning of the second century ; so universally ac- 
knowledged by men of curious parts and different 
persuasions; being multiplied into diverse ver- 
sions, almost from the beginning; being so con- 
stantly rehearsed in their assemblies ; so diligently 
read by Christians, and so riveted in their memo- 
ries, that Eusebius mentions some that had them 
all by heart ; and lastly, so frequent in their writ- 
ings as now we have them ; — it must be certain, 
from those considerations, that they were handed 
clown to succeeding generations, pure and uncor- 
rupt." 

But we are still sometimes inquired of, ' How 
can we be sure that we have the true canon of 
Scripture, after the lapse of so many centuries, 
and learned men are often speaking of different 
manuscripts and versions?'* I answer, in the 
words of another : " During nearly two hundred 
years, our present translation of the Scriptures 
has been extant, and persons of various descrip- 
tions made new translations of the whole, or of 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 71 

particular parts ; and scarcely any writer fails to 
mention, in one way or other, alterations, which 
he supposes would be improvements: — It may be 
asked, how then can unlearned persons know that 
our translation may be depended on, as in general 
faithful and correct ? " ' Here let the inquirer 
remember, that the various and contending de- 
nominations of Christians, who, in various ways, 
maintain eager controversies with each other, do 
all appeal to the same version, and in no essential 
matter object to it. This proves that the transla- 
tion, on the whole, is just ; and that it is impos- 
sible for any party materially to deviate from it, 
while so many eager opponents are incessantly 
watching over one another. The same consider- 
ation proves the impossibility of the primitive 
Christians corrupting the sacred records, while 
heretics, Jews and pagans stood ready to oppose 
every deviation ; nay, other churches would have 
protested against the alterations which any church 
would attempt to make.' Besides, * no other books 
were received by the primitive church, as a part 
of divine revelation. Many were sent forth bear- 
ing such names; but on faithful examination, all, 
except those which now form the New Testament, 
were rejected as spurious. And this shows with 
what scrupulous caution the canon of Scripture 
was fixed and retained : as the Jews are said to 
have counted the letters of the Old Testament, to 
prevent all imposition. 

* The four gospels were very early received as 
the writings of the evangelists, whose names they 
bear. They were mentioned distinctly by the 



72 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

fathers of the second century, as books well known 
by the name of gospels, and as such were read by 
Christians at their assemblies every Sabbath. 
And although the doctrines and events were re- 
lated by those men, each in his own style and 
manner, and without concert, there is no jar or 
contradiction between them, but harmony in all 
essential points and circumstances. Here I am 
reminded of a reply which an English author 
made to Thomas Paine; viz. " Industry, ingenui- 
ty and malice have for ages been employed in 
endeavoring to prove the evangelists inconsistent 
with each other : yet, not a single contradiction 
has hitherto been proved on them. One thing is 
fact ; these four men have done, without appear- 
ing to have intended it, what was never performed 
by any author before or since ; — they have drawn 
a perfect human character, without a single flaw. 
This challenges investigation, and sets infidelity at 
defiance. Either these men exceeded in ge- 
nius AND CAPACII Y, ALL THE WRITERS WHO EVER 
LIVED, OR THEY WROTE UNDER THE SPECIAL GUID- 
ANCE OF DIVINE INSPIRATION." 

I am again asked, " Does the present English 
translation of those gospels convey exactly the 
same ideas to us, that their original authors in- 
tended to convey to their readers t " I answer, 
exactly the same to those acquainted with the lan- 
guage in which they were indited by the Spirit 
of God, or in which they were translated under 
his superintendence. And I can further say, 
that, not only by what little I know myself, but 
by what multitudes, who have had the means of 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 73 

knowing, agree in saying, that the exact idea is 
conveyed to every English reader, which is essen- 
tial to salvation. And more need not be said 
here. 

We will now look a moment at the resurrection 
of Christ, as recorded by Matthew, last chapter, to 
which the Jewish, if not the Roman records in 
substance agree. First, the angel testified, " He 
is not here, but is risen as he said." Then the 
women, who were competent witnesses, reported 
that they had seen and talked with him after he 
rose fom the dead. Then the eleven testified 
that they had seen him alive after his death. And 
then the watch, who were so astonished as to 
offer no resistance, told their honest, unvarnished 
story of his resurrection. And the last testimo- 
ny, though not least in importance, is the strange 
and self-contradictory and absurd concession of 
the learned and unfriendly rulers. They gave 
large money, and bribed the soldiers to take a 
false oath, by testifying that 'the disciples stole 
him away while they slept! ' 

Just examine this extraordinary expedient to 
disprove the resurrection of Christ. First, the 
soldiers were bribed to bear testimony concerning 
themselves, which, according to the known Ro- 
man law, was death to them. It was death for a 
Roman sentinel to sleep on his post. But, say 
the rulers, ' we will persuade the governor, and 
secure you ' from the death you may fear by this 
law. Then, secondly, they take an oath, which 
the court admit as valid proof, 'The disciples 
stole him away while we slept 5 ! ! as though they 
*7 



74 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

were competent witnesses of what transpired 
when asleep!! How would such testimony be 
treated in our courts? The witness says, such a 
man did so and so, at such an hour of the night, 
ivhile I was asleep !!! But to such extremity 
were they driven, or let the resurrection of Christ 
pass as a truth current. This state of the case, 
astonishingly absurd as it is, was matter of record 
at the time, is preserved, and open to this day for 
the inspection of all men. The evidence, there- 
fore, of the important and fundamental doctrine 
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is as conclu- 
sive in point of clearness, as any case in law 
can be. 

I will close this lecture with a few lines from 
Berkley's Minute Philosophy. Speaking of the 
truth of the Christian religion, he says, " It is a 
clear point, that it was spread abroad throughout 
the world, soon after the death of Christ. It is a 
clear point, that this was not effected by human 
learning, policy, or power. It is a clear point, 
that in the eariy times of the church, there were 
several men of knowledge and integrity, who em- 
braced the faith, not from any, but against all 
temporal motives. It is a clear point, that the 
nearer they were to the fountain head, the more 
opportunity they had to satisfy themselves as to 
the truth of these facts, which they believed. It 
is a clear point, that the less interest there was to 
persuade, the more need there was of evidence 
to convince them. It is a clear point, that they 
relied on the authority of those who declared 
themselves eye witnesses of the miracles and res- 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 75 

urrection of Christ. It is a clear point, that these 
professed eye witnesses suffered much for this 
their attestation, and finally sealed it with their 
blood. It is a clear point, that these witnesses, 
weak and contemptible as they were, overcame the 
world, spread more light, preached purer morals, 
and did more benefit to mankind, than all the phi- 
losophers and sages put together." 



LECTURE V. 

5. ITS CONTINUED EXISTENCE. 6. ITS EFFECTS 
ON THE TEMPERS AND LIVES OF MEN. OBJEC- 
TIONS ANSWERED. 

I now pass to another argument, to prove the 
divine inspiration of the Scriptures, which is, 

5. Their existence in the world so long, not- 
withstanding all the opposition the enemies of 
revealed truth have raised against them. Ever 
since the gospel was first proclaimed, it has had 
its opposers, who have sometimes been extremely 
virulent, and the more so as vice abounded. 

Before Christ ascended, he commissioned his 
apostles to 'go into all the world, and preach the 
gospel to every creature.' They accordingly went 
forth ; but were violently opposed by their own 



76 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

nation. Still, at the risk of their worldly ease, 
and wealth, and reputation, and even oflife itself, 
they propagated the unpopular doctrines and du- 
ties taught them by their divine Master. Some 
'gnashed on them with their teeth/ others scourg- 
ed, beat and imprisoned them. The Gentiles, 
who worshiped a plurality of gods, and deified the 
manes of their departed heroes, and constantly 
worshiped under the grossest systems of idolatry, 
must, from the nature of the case, have been 
their enemies, and would, of course, oppose Chris- 
tianity. ' No one thinks,' says one, ' of anything 
marvellous in the preservation of the volumes of 
the Greek and Roman writers; for all men, in all 
nations, who had the power in their hands, vied 
in honorable strife and care to preserve them. 
They were never exposed to the deadly hate and 
superhuman malice of the men who put forth all 
their power and cunning to destroy the Bible. 
Antiochus left no means untried to destroy every 
copy of the Old Testament; his edict made it 
death for a Jew to possess or conceal a copy. So 
did Dioclesian and other Roman emperors re- 
specting the manuscripts of the whole Bible. 
Yet has it not only not perished, but it cannot be 
shown that even one sentence has been lost.' — 
Now is not this some evidence that the omniscient 
God, in whose hand is every living thing, and who 
controls the free agency of men, had that volume 
in his eye and under his peculiar care, that nei- 
their those heathen emperors, nor wicked men 
whose lives it condemns, nor infidels of any size 
or order, should long even check its progress, 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 77 

much less destroy it from the earth. It has not 
only had its existence, but wide and rapid pro- 
mulgation. 

The promulgators of it were 'in perils' among 
the heathen, as well as among ' false brethren. ' 
Yet thousands embraced the gospel, and held it 
dearer than life itself, and helped to sustain it 
against all opposition. And so you witness the 
existence of it against power and arms, learning 
and malignity, from its first promulgation down 
through all succeeding centuries, to the present 
day. It has had its converts and advocates ir; 
every age, who, amidst calumny and persecution 
of every description and degree, have fearlessly 
advocated its unpopular cause, and in defiance of 
earth and hell, have proclaimed it abroad from 
city to city, and from one country to another, and 
established it among the different nations of the 
world. Hume, that arch infidel, predicted the 
downfall of Christianity in the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Voltaire as triumphantly asserted, that al- 
though it took twelve men to plant Christianity, 
his single arm should root it out. And Paine 
boasted, (but it was before he put off the har- 
ness,) that he had cut down every tree in par- 
adise. 

But it is a pleasing fact, that the very press that 
scattered Voltaire's baneful tracts, has lately been 
employed by the Paris Bible Society; and that in the 
very chamber where Hume uttered his evil proph- 
ecy, the first committee assembled to form the 
Edinburgh Bible Society. And we ourse'ves, my 
hearers, notwithstanding all past opposition to the 



78 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

Bible by tbe great, the learned and the powerful, 
are living witnesses of its victorious existence as 
desrendents of paga?i idolaters, and as seen in the 
course of benevolent operations at the present 
day. The Bible is printed and printing in all the 
languages of the earth, and 'runs very swiftly ' to 
the ends of the world. And how is all this to be 
accounted for on any other principle, than that 
the finger of God points out the way, and his 
power, though invisible, puts the mighty in check, 
and gives his word success? 

I pass to another argument. 

6. The effect the gospel has upon the tempers 
and lives of men. 

It is well known, and ought to be well consid- 
ered, that the hearts of all men, and the lives of 
most, are at variance with the gospel of Christ. 
The apostles, and the prophets before them, had 
reason to expect opposition from carnal men ; 
they expected it, and received what they expected 
in full measure. Nevertheless, their preaching 
was attended with wonderful success. The ene- 
my thought the world were going after Christ, 
and alleged that, the apostles were turning the 
world upside down. Their efforts were indeed 
accompanied with irresistible power. Adaman- 
tine hearts were broken, and carnal nature chang- 
ed ; vicious and idolatrous lives were reformed ; 
the hearts of the opulent were opened to feed the 
poor; the miser's griping hand was unclenched 
to contribute to the necessities of the poor, and 
spread the cause of truth, and maintain the pub- 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 79 

lie and private worship of God. By hundreds 
and by thousands they have been turned from the 
greatest cruelties and impieties, to embrace and 
vindicate doctrines the most crossing to carnal 
nature, and to practice that distinguishing duty of 
the gospel, to " love their enemies, to do good to 
them that hate them, and pray for them that de- 
spitefully use and persecute them." Many ten 
thousands of pagans have ' cast their idols to the 
moles and to the bats.' As dagon fell before the 
ark of God, so many an idol god they cast ' into 
the clefts of the rocks,' and sought after the God 
of the Bible, and like Saul of Tarsus, inquired 
with the utmost solicitude, " Lord, what wilt thou 
have me to do ? " 

Such have been the effects of the gospel upon 
the hearts and lives of men, in past ages, and 
such are its effects at the present day. See 
heathen India and the islands of the sea, with 
parts of Europe and Africa, waiting for the law, 
and calling for instruction. What happy num- 
bers of our own countrymen have experienced 
the triumphs of almighty grace. Men of all 
ranks, professions, literature, and character, have 
yielded to the superior power of the word and 
Spirit of God. Be assured, this blessed work of 
conviction, conversion and reformation has not 
been confined to the ignorant and weak, easily 
wrought upon and deceived, as skeptics are ac- 
customed to say : no, look at our colleges, the 
last places to which you would point us for reli- 
gious enthusiasm and fanaticism, and see some of 
the most obstinate, stout-hearted and deistical 



80 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

bowing to the commanding power of the truth as 
it is in Jesus, and becoming the understanding 
and enlightened guides of science and religion, 
and thus be persuaded beyond a doubt, that the 
origin of such a record must be divine. 

Should any still say, that these men are deceiv- 
ed; or that they are duped, imposed upon by the 
Jesuitical cunning of the priesthood ; or that * much 
learning has made them mad,' I would ask them 
to discourse with them, and see whether they have 
lost the balance of their mind, and their reason 
has fled. It may be they would find reason sta- 
tioned in her proper place, and able to meet their 
arguments, and detect their sophistry without the 
charge of weakness or insanity. I say, without 
fear of contradiction, that the Bible has had as 
learned and as powerful advocates, at least, as it 
has had adversaries, if not so many; that it has 
passed under the strictest scrutiny of many of the 
most learned and virtuous men, which the world 
has ever seen. They have examined the evi- 
dence with all the advantages of any men what- 
ever, many of them with no prepossessions in its 
favor, and some of them with a strong bias against 
it. Eminent divines, poets, statesmen, moralists, 
physicians, lawyers and judges have thoroughly 
investigated and believed the Bible. 

" What though Thomas Paine, who is well 
known," says a foreign writer, " to be both illiter- 
ate and immoral, insolent and satirical, though 
otherwise a man of good natural understanding, 
is an unbeliever in the divine mission of the Son 
of God? " And what though some other men of 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 81 

more distinguished sense and learning may have 
disbelieved in the Bible? ' It may be of some 
consolation to remember, that the first characters, 
who ever adorned our world, in every department 
of human life, have not been ashamed of the gos- 
pel of Christ. Every man would do well to re- 
flect, in these days of abounding licentiousness, 
to support the mind against the ridicule of pro- 
fessed unbelievers, that the learned divines, as 
Butler, and Bentley, and Barrow, and Berkeley, 
and Cudvvorth, and Clarke, and Sherlock, and 
Doddridge, and Watts, and Lardner, and Pearson, 
and Taylor, and Usher, and a thousand more, 
were believers in the Bible. That the poets, 
Spencer, and Waller, and Cowley, and Prior, and 
Thompson, and Grey, and Young, and Milton, 
and Cowper, and others, were believers. That the 
statesmen, Hyde, and Somers, and Pulteney, and 
Cullen, and Howard, and King, and Barrington, 
and Lyttleton, and Washington, and many more 
received the Bible as the word of God. That the 
moralists, Steele, and Addison, and Havvkes- 
worth, and Johnson ; that the eminent physicians, 
Arbuthnot, and Cheyne, and Browne, and Boer- 
haave,and Pringle, and Hartley, and Haller, and 
Mead, and Fothergil, and Good, were believers in 
the Bible. That the learned lawyers and judges, 
Hale, and Hailes, and MelmoU), and Forbes, and 
Pratt, and Blackstone, and Jones, and Marshall, 
were firm believers in the volume of revelation. 
Many of these great men were the ornaments of 
human nature, and many more that might be 
mentioned, whether we consider the wide range 
8 



82 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

of their abilities, the great extent of their learn- 
ing and knowledge, or the piety, integrity and 
beneficence of their lives. They firmly adhered 
to the belief of Christianity, after the most dili- 
gent and exact researches into the life of its 
Founder, and authenticity of its records, the com- 
pletion of its prophecies, the sublimity of its doc- 
trines, the purity of its precepts, and the argu- 
ments of its adversaries. These were all men of 
independent principles, and the most liberal and 
enlarged minds. Take the names of Bacon, New- 
ton, Locke, Boyle, Ditton, Addison, Hartley, Little- 
ton, Woodward, Pringle, Haller, Jones, Doerhaave, 
Milton, Grotius, Barrington and Euler, in partic- 
ular ; they investigated the principles of the gos- 
pel to the bottom ; they were not only satisfied 
with the justice of its claims, but gloried in it as 
the mo3t benevolent and godlike scheme : it was 
their study in life, their solace in death. 

It may be asked here, why are there so many 
that oppose the gospel, while such men as these, 
without the ridiculous charge of priestcraft, la- 
bored so hard and so successfully to establish it? 
May not one reason be that which Ahab assigned 
for hating Micaiah? It * prophecies evil against 
them/ Another reason probably is, they give but 
little attention to the study of the book, and there- 
fore are incompetent judges. ' When the learned 
Dr. Halley was throwing out some indecent reflec- 
tions against Christianity, his friend, Sir Isaac 
Newton, stopped him shoit, and addressed him to 
the following effect: ' Dr. Halley, I am always 
glad to hear you when you speak about astronomy 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 83 

or other parts of the mathematics, because that is 
a subject you have studied and well understand ; 
but you should not talk f Christianity, for you 
have not studied it; — I have, and I am certain 
you know nothing of the matter.' — And is it not 
true, that the warmest opposers of the Bible have 
been the least acquainted with its contents, and 
its warmest adherents most acquainted ? No man 
of enlightened understanding will deliberately 
prejudge a case, or say he is a competent judge 
of the claims of the Bible before he has given 
them a critical and candid examination. And 
the advocates of the Bible, instead of shrinking 
from the most learned and critical examination of 
their sacred books, earnestly desire it, and invite 
to it, sensible it is not the study of the Bible, but 
the want of it, that leads men to skeptical views ; 
as Lord Bacon says of philosophy : " A little phi- 
losophy inclineth a man to atheism ; but depth in 
philosophy bringeth men's minds about to reli- 
gion." I know that the evidence of the Christian 
religion does not rest on great names; but when 
we see a constellation of them, it should at least 
call us to a patient, candid and careful examina- 
tion of its claims. 

And I desire that the faultsof those who advocate 
the Scriptures, be no longer considered as proof 
against them. Will you not all freely admit, that it 
is unreasonable the Bible should be answerable for 
the weaknesses, follies and vices of its advocates? 
And still these are often alleged as evidence 
against its divine original. Will philosophy en- 
dure to be tried by such a test? Is the weakness, 



84 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

folly or vices of its advocates a test of its genu- 
ineness? Or will ridicule be considered, by any 
reasonable men, a test of true philosophy? I 
aver, that the Bible no more shrinks from reason 
and investigation than philosophy. 

I might here introduce, but shall not, as a dis- 
tinct head, in favor of the divinity of the Bible, 
its antiquity ; that it is the most ancient book in 
the world. If the Chinese, or any other heathen, 
pretend to have more ancient dates, how do they 
prove it? Not as we prove our ancient dates. 
The Bible has proofs of its antiquity, which no 
other has. Let others show that they have al- 
ways had witnesses for and against their more 
ancient books, as can be shown respecting the 
Bible. The Jews have, in every age, taken spe- 
cial care to preserve t\\e\x sacred books; and those 
writings form their code of civil and sacred law, 
and their writers, as well as pagan writers, have 
spoken of their books and writers as unquestion- 
ably ancient. i Tacitus, a celebrated Roman his- 
torian, who lived in the first century, in referring 
to the prophecies contained in the Bible, speaks 
of the books of the Jewish priests, as at that time 
ancient. Two thousand years and more have 
elapsed since they were translated into Greek. 
They were read in the synagogues every Sabbath 
day ; commentaries on them were written ; and 
copies of the Old Testament, as well as the New, 
have been spread into every region, and multi- 
plied in many languages.' 

Not only, therefore, has the Bible been safely 
preserved through all opposition, through all the 



TRUTH OF T1J£ BIBLE. 85 

past ages of its existence, and produced wonder- 
ful effects upon *Ae tempers and lives of many 
millions whose hearts were fully set in them ' to 
destroy the volume; but it carries on the very 
face of ')* those marks of divine original, which 
alone, ^s it respects instrumentality, have brought 
over the profoundest unbelievers. 

There is a strange objection still lying against 
the Bible, which is its simplicity and plainness. — 
Set this objection over against one that has been 
answered, viz. its obscurity and mystery , and I 
hive need to say but little on the point of plain- 
ness, in the style and manner of it. 

God gave commandment to Moses to write all 
the words of the law ' eery plainly.' It is re- 
markable, that the very things on account of 
which infidels pour their sarcasms on the Bible, 
are the very things which, if they were not found 
there, would be alleged by them as evident proof 
of its essential deficiency, and not worthy of God. 
But the Bible is easy to be understood by all peo- 
ple, in all its fundamental points ; in all essential to 
happiness and salvation. " The wayfaring man, 
though a fool, shall not err therein. " Habakkuk 
was directed to ' write the vision and make it plain 
upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.' 
Who that has ever read the ten commandments, 
which are the grand summary of the whole duty 
of man, was ever at a loss to know what they 
meant? What child was ever at a loss to know? 
And who cannot undei stand the sum of all, 
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and thy neighbor as thyself?" And how 
*8 



86 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

important this is, as the book is designed for all 
people. It ought, then, to be very° plain; and 
there is not a sentiment in the Bi' a | e , on the un- 
derstanding of which the greatest g^ d of men 
depends, but all may easily understand , and the 
most important parts are the easiest to be under- 
stood. If we wish to know what we' are tt> be 
and do, to obtain the everlasting favor of ti*> 
Highest, we find it plainly written, " What doth 
the Lord thy God require of thee, but to do just- 
ly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God?" 
And " if there be first a willing mind, it is ac* 
cepted according to that a man hath, and not ac- 
cording to that he hath not." And our duty to 
men is as plainly revealed : " Whatsoever ye would 
that men should do to you, do ye even so to them 
likewise." Than this, nothing can be more rea- 
sonable : and surely, nothing more plain. 

How plainly revealed is the natural stale of 
man? " The heart is deceitful above all things, 
and desperately wicked. The carnal mind is en- 
mity against God ; you hath he quickened, who 
were dead in trespasses and sins." What can be 
plainer than the words of promise and threaten- 
ings? " He that believeth shall be saved ; but he 
that believeth not shall be damned." So of the 
final judgment and endless retribution of man- 
kind, in Matt. 25 : 31, to the end. 

This perspicuity, simplicity and plainness are 
the more important, as the Bible is the rule, or 
law-book, by which all who have it are to be 
judged. As no good civil government will couch 
its fundamental laws in equivocal language and 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 87 

rnigmaticnl sentences, which few, if any, can cer- 
tainly understand; so has not Jehovah; but plain- 
ly, so that nothing but. defect in the will can 
prevent obedience. And if the Bible were unin- 
telligible, it could be no rule of life, nor of judg- 
ment. But every man, woman and child that 
reads, can understand all its cardinal principles : 
and this is saying much in favor of its divine in- 
spiration. 

As to the style of the Bible, no book of mere 
human composition has ever equalled its majesty, 
sublimity and grandeur. Hear Moses : " There 
is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth 
upon the heavens in thy help, and in his excel- 
lency on the sky ; the eternal God is thy refuge, 
and underneath are the everlasting arms." And 
Job . " Canst thou bind the sweet influences of 
Pleiado^ or loose the bands of Orion ? Canst thou 
bring for\h Mazzaroth in his season ? or canst 
thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest 
thou the ordnances of heaven? Canst thou set 
the dominion tu> reo f in the earth ? Canst thou 
lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of 
waters may cover thfeo ? Canst thou send light- 
nings that they may g*, and say unto thee, Here 
we are?" 

There is also much in l^iah that is very sub- 
lime. Take an instance : " Who hath measured 
the waters in the hollow of his V*and ; who hath 
meted out the heavens with a span, comprehend- 
ed the dust of earth in a measure; weighed the 
mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, 



OS ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers ; 
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and 
spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Behold 
the nations are as a drop of the bucket, and are 
accounted as the small dust of the balance : be- 
hold he taketh up the isles as a very little thing, 
and hangeth the earth upon nothing." Daniel's 
description of the future state of the just, is beau- 
tifully sublime : " They that be wise shall shine 
as the brightness of the firmament, and they that 
turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever 
and ever." — Greece and Rome could boast of 
men of eloquence, whose style was indeed noble 
and sublime : and if men of modern date have 
excelled, yet neither have equalled the sublimity 
and majesty of the style in which the Scriptures 
are written. Look at one more text in the Old 
Testament, and one in the New, and I will orir?g 
no more. " And God said, let there be l^ht, and 
there was light." "And I saw a ^eat wmte 
throne, and him that sat upon it, fro** whose face 
the earth and the heavens fled a*'ay, and there 
was found no place for them." 

I may add, that the native eloquence and una- 
dorned imagery of the negatives of the Bible, 
are equalled in no othe* book. The lively and 
glowing paintings of Kilton, the smoothly flowing 
eloquence of Addiscvi, and the strong and nervous 
composition of Jcnnson, of Burke and Pitt, are 
excellent indeed as human productions, but can- 
not compare *vith the style of Scripture. 

As to the matter it contains, no other book is 
like it. The most brilliant descriptions of heathen 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 89 

gods, compared with those of the God of heaven, 
fade away into the merest insignificance. The 
matter of man's destination, as an immortal being, 
is most vividly interesting; nothing can be more 
so. Then notice, in this connection, the charac- 
ter of Messiah, the scheme of grace, including 
what Paul calls, by way of emphasis and lofty em- 
inence, " the great mystery of godliness : " the 
wonderful operation of the Holy Spirit, in con- 
vincing, renewing and sanctifying a people for 
their eteinal salvation. Then notice the all-inter- 
esting doctrine of the general resurrection; a doc- 
trine of most sublime interest to every rational 
mind : and connected with this, a future judg- 
ment, when the countless millions of Adam's pos- 
terity are to assemble before one judicial bar, to 
be tried by known and established law, and all 
receive their final destiny according to the eternal 
rule of equity, promulgated by the supreme Ruler 
of the universe, which destiny is to be without 
appeal, and without reconsideration forever and 
ever. 

Now, matter of this sort cannot possibly fail of 
interesting the human mind far above any other 
subjects, and all other subjects combined ; for it 
takes fast hold on the loftiest intellect, and all the 
noblest interests of intellectual and moral nature. 

Abating, then, all that is interesting in the won- 
derful interpositions of divine Providence in be- 
half of his peculiar people recorded by Moses, 
Joshua, David, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and oth- 
ers, and the miracles wrought by Christ and his 
apostles, which were acknowledged as facts by 



90 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

their greatest opposers ; and abating, too, the ac- 
knowledged truth, that the Bible is the best book 
to regulate, improve and felicitate human society 
here, its developments of futurity render it su- 
perlatively interesting. 



LECTURE VI. 

7. FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECIES. OBJECTIONS 
ANSWERED. 

I now proceed to my last argument in proof 
that the Bible is the word of God ; which is, 

7. The fulfillment of the prophecies. 

I take for my text the words of one of the great- 
est Queens of any heathen country. They are in 
Daniel, 5: 10, 11, 12. 

" Now the Queen, by reason of the words of 
the king and his lords, came into the banquet 
house ; and the Queen spake and said, O king, live 
forever ; let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let 
thy countenance be changed : 

There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the 
spirit of the holy gods ; and in the clays of thy 
father, light, and understanding, and wisdom, like 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 9l 

the wisdom of the gods, was found in him ; whom 
the king Nebuchadnezzar, thy father ; the king, I 
say, thy father, made master of the magicians, 
astrologers, Chaldeans and soothsayers ; 

Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowl- 
edge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, 
and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of 
doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the 
king named Belteshazzar : now let Daniel be call- 
ed, and he will show the interpretation." 

These heathens had confused notions about the 
great Creator, Preserver and Governor of all 
things. But still there was a sort of intuitive 
feeling, sense, or impression, that He, like the 
Athenian unknown God, was possessed of such 
knowledge and power, that he would make true 
communications to the mind of man concerning 
secret and future things. Daniel had foretold fu- 
ture events to Nebuchadnezzar, and revealed se- 
cret things to his mind. And now the Queen 
supposes, without a doubt it seems, that Daniel, 
whom they ought not to have forgotten, ' with 
whom was the spirit of the holy gods/ as she 
says, is able to reveal to the king the true inter- 
pretation of the hand writing on the wall of the 
palace. 

I suppose all my hearers will allow, that God 
is as able to make such communications as he may 
please to make to the minds of men, as he is to 
work miracles by their hands. This point, I sup- 
pose, is settled, and is incontrovertible : God can 
reveal future things to man. And what I am now 
to show, is, that he has done it. 



92 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

If now it can be clearly proved by reason, that 
future events were foretold at the time they pro- 
fess to have been, and that what was foretold did 
actually come to pass as foretold, then it will be 
the voice of reason, that such was the inspiration 
of God ; for no other being can certainly foretell 
future events. And certainly there is nothing 
inconsistent with the divine character, in making 
known to his creatures things to come. 

There are in the Bible, as you all know, many 
professed predictions of future events, things 
nearer, or farther distant. And that they were 
recorded as predictions of future events, is evi- 
dent from the united testimony of all who have 
written in ancient times concerning the prophets 
and their predictions. Take, for instance, what 
was foretold by Isaiah (45) of the taking of 
Babylon by Cyrus, king of Persia, about two 
hundred years before the event took place. Here 
the conqueror of Babylon is called by name, two 
hundred years before his birth, which is corrobo- 
rated by history. 

The most celebrated historians, Greek and 
Roman, Heroditus, Xenophon, Tacitus, Strabo, 
Pliny and others, bear testimony to the accom- 
plishment of the predictions of the prophets rela- 
tive to the existence, condition and destruction of 
Nineveh, Babylon and Tyre, as well as of other 
cities and kingdoms. 

But I shall detain you with only carrying out, 
in detail, two or three predictions in their fulfill- 
ment. 

Theirs* I shall introduce, is the prophecy of 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 93 

Jacob concerning Judah, You will find this in 
Gon. 49 : 10. " The sceptre shall not depart from 
Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet, 
until Shiloh come, unto whom the gathering of 
the people shall be." The meaning is, the tribe 
of Judah, according to the language of the east, 
should retain its own elders, judges and rulers ; or, 
in a word, retain the authority till the advent of 
the promised Messiah. 

We find, that about nine hundred years after 
Jacob uttered this prophecy of Judah and Shiloh, 
or Messiah, Shalmanassar, king of Assyria, sub- 
jected the ten tribes to himself. This you may 
read in 1 Kings, 17. After this subjugation of 
the ten tribes, they were no longer a distinct peo- 
ple, but mixed with other nations, while the tribe 
of Judah remained a distinct people, and the law- 
giver proceeded from that tribe. And even dur- 
ing the seventy years* captivity in Babylon, the 
tribe of Judah remained a separate people, and 
did not allow intermarriages with the Babyloni- 
ans. And notwithstanding they were subject to 
the general government of the king of Babylon, 
yet they had the privilege of instituting and ob- 
serving their own feasts and fasts ; of choosing 
their own elders, governors and judges; of plant- 
ing vineyards and gardens,* and enjoying their 
fruits ; of building houses and living in them, as a 
separate people. (Jer. 29.) 

When Cyrus issued the celebrated decree, that 
the Jews should be restored to their own land, he 
gave command, that the vessels of the house of 
the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought 



94 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

from Jerusalem, should be delivered to the prin- 
ces of Judah. (Ezra,1.) 

From this it is evident that they held distinct 
authority while in Babylon, though under the gen- 
eral government of the king of Babylon. And 
so they remained a distinct people, having rule, 
till Christ y the true Shiloh appeared in the flesh. 
And this is further corroborated by what the Jews 
told Christ, when he said to them, ' If they would 
continue in his word they should know the truth, 
and the truth should make them free ; ' Misap- 
prehending his meaning, (for he spake in a spir- 
itual sense,) they replied, with much assurance : 
" We be Abraham's seed, and were never inbond- 
age to any man." This was true ; Christ allowed 
it; the Bible testifies to it, and profane history at- 
tests the same. ' The sceptre therefore did not 
depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between 
his feet, till Shiloh came, and the people gathered 
to him.' The result is, therefore, that Jacob was 
a true prophet, and Jesus Christ, who was born 
of Mary, in the reign of Augustus Caesar was 
the true Shiloh of whom Jacob predicted. 

Soon after the advent of Messiah, the sceptre 
did depart from Judah, their power was taken 
away, and the nation dispersed. 

In connection wifh this, I will bring to your no- 
tice a remarkable prophecy of Moses respecting 
that devoted nation. This you will find in Deut. 
28. This chapter is too long for me to read to 
you ; you must read it, and then see its applica- 
tion and fulfillment. It must suffice that I give 
you its contents in few words. 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 95 

It foretells, with a great deal of particularity, 
the very sore and multiplied calamities, which 
should befall the nation, even their fnal, and con- 
tinued dispersion ! 

When the Romans besieged Jerusalam, the 
beloved capital of the Jews, the latter were col- 
lected, in great numbers, from various parts of 
the country for different purposes. The nation 
of fierce countenance then fell upon them, ac- 
cording to prophecy, without * regarding the per- 
son of the old, or showing favor to the young.' 

Authentic history relates, agreeable to Moses' 
prediction, that the famine was so great, that, in 
whatever house they entered where there was 
food, they would fight, like hungry wolves, for a 
share ! Husbands would greedily snatch the 
scanty food from their wives, and these from their 
husbands ! Parents, from children, and children, 
from parents ! The famishing mother, when the 
supply of nature failed, would even then deprive 
her pining infant of the last semblance of nour- 
ishment ! ! And, what is more shocking to the 
sensibilities of human nature, mothers, who were 
always ready to stand between their infants and 
all harm, did actually, as Moses foretold, slay, 
dress and eat their infants for very hunger ! ! ! 

Again ; according to the prophecy, they were 
to be ' left few in number J And so it was. Ves- 
pasian and Titus took ninety-nine thousand pris- 
oners, and put to death more than twelve hundred 
thousand ! — And, besides all this dreadful havoc 
of human life, vast multitudes died by famine ; 
They killed each other ; and many, very many 



96 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

died by other causes, while they were besieged by 
the Romans. 

Agreeable to the prediction also, Titus, the 
conqueror, sent them to Egypt, and sold them for 
slaves, and continued the traffic till the public 
market was so glutted, that no more could be sold. 
Then was fulfilled that part of the prediction in 
the chapter referred to, " They shall sell you for 
bond-men and bond-women, and no man shall 
buy you." i. e. You shall be sold till they will 
want no more of you, — till they will buy no 
more. Thus they have ' become a hissing, a pro- 
verb, and a by-word among all nations.' Not 
only were they, in great numbers, in Egypt, but, 
as Moses foretold, they were dispersed over all 
the earth. They betook themselves to every part 
of the inhabited world. There they are unto this 
day, and remain a distinct people, retaining their 
own customs, religion and language, as far as they 
are permitted to do so by their barbarous oppres- 
sors. Their plagues have been wonderful, and 
of long continuance, as the prophet predicted. 
For eighteen hundred years, they have been con- 
tinually suffering almost all sorts of indignities, 
privations and plagues. They are now a standing 
and perpetual miracle, and a stubborn proof of 
the truth of the predictions concerning them. 

Notwithstanding Moses lived more than three 
thousand years ago, he described the condition of 
that devoted people, from that time to this, through 
their numerous generations, as exactly as he 
could have done, if he had been a spectator of 
every scene, through the whole series of events. 



TRUTH OP THE BIBLE. 97 

Who then can doubt that he was instructed by 
Him, ' who seeth the end from the beginning/ to 
commit to writing the Pentateuch, which are the 
five books ascribed to him ? 

I will now present you with a few predictions 
respecting Messiah, and their fulfillment in Christ 
Jesus of Nazareth, in which his person, character 
and works, are plainly foretold. Isaiah spake of his 
forerunner calling him 'the voice of one crying 
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord/ 
He also says, (ch. 9.) " Unto us a child is born : 
unto us a son is given." And Daniel, ch. 9, fore- 
told the exact time when Messiah should be born, 
and be cut off. Exactly in sixty-two prophetic weeks 
from the time that Daniel set, Messiah was cut 
off, sustaining precisely the character and condi- 
tion foretold by him. And it is strangely amusing 
to hear infidels, in their sober moments, (for they 
have some such moments,) say what they seem 
constrained to say, about Jesus Christ. Lord 
Byron, whose fine talents have been worse than 
lost to the world, if not to himself, not only called 
Christ ' diviner than Socrates ; but if ever God 
was man, or man, God, he was both, and Ros- 
seau, a French deist, acknowledges that it would 
have been nothing less than a miracle, that such 
a character as that of Christ, if not real, should 
have been thought of by the fishermen of Galilee.' 
So far as these remarks go, they agree with the 
account the Bible gives of the Messiah, harmoni- 
zing with the predictions everywhere concerning 
him. 

*9 



98 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

The 53d ch. of Isaiah, which was written more* 
than seven hundred years before Christ, seems 
almost like a history of the transactions of the 
times, in which Jesus Christ suffered and died. 
It points out his character and sufferings, so par* 
ticularly and precisely, that the stubborn Jews, it- 
is said, omit that chapter in their reading ancE 
teaching, and even in their transcriptions of their 
sacred books. They seem to be afraid that con* 
viction will be forced upon their minds, that 
Jesus of Nazareth, whom their fathers crucified,, 
is indeed the Shiloh of their father Jacob's pre- 
diction. And we may safely say that testimony 
of this does come in from every direction. 

I now invite your attention to a prediction of 
Paul, 2. Thess. 2, which portrays the character of 
the papal power, called, * the man of sin? 

Just as Paul predicted, the Pope of Rome has 
1 exalted himself above all that is called God, or 
is worshiped 1 ' He claims the supremacy in 
church and state ; the power and prerogative of 
pardoning sin ; of saving and damning whom he 
will ; thus taking, by the most impious assumption, 
the throne of God. He has, by his " lying won- 
ders," enriched his coffers at the expense of the 
blood and treasures of many ten thousands. Mill- 
ions of Jews and Christians have been massacred 
in cold blood, when peaceably dwelling in his 
ungracious dominions, by his ungodly bulls, or 
decrees, which his contemptible minions are 
proud to execute ; and as many more have been 
dragged from their families and quiet homes, to 
the horrid inquisitorial court, to meet torture and 



TRUTH OP THE BIBLE. 99 

■death in forms as cruel and inhuman as refined 
barbarity itself could invent. Their convents 
and nunneries are a striking fulfillment of Paul's 
prediction, 1 Tim. 4 ; " Now the Spirit speaketh 
expressly, that in the latter times, some shall de- 
part from the faith, giving heed to seducing 
spirits and doctrines of devils ; speaking lies in 
hypocrisy, having their consciences seared with 
a hot iron : forbidding to marry " as they do their 
priests, " and commanding to abstain from meats, 
which God has created to be received with 
thanksgiving of them which believe and know 
the truth. " But happily, the day is fast approach- 
ing, when 'that wicked/ as Paul emphatical- 
ly calls him, " shall be destroyed with the bright- 
ness of the Lord's coming, and be consumed by 
the spirit of his mouth." 

I will detain you with but one prediction more, 
which is the preservation of the churchy the pecu- 
liar people, which profess the holy and self-deny- 
ing religion of the Bible. 

Isaiah prophesied concerning Jesus Christ, 
that he should g see of the travail of his soul, and 
be satisfied.' That 'of the increase of his gov- 
ernment and peace there should be no end.' 
And Daniel; " In the days of these kings shall 
the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall 
never be destroyed ; and the kingdom shall not 
be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces 
and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall 
stand forever." And Christ himself said to the 
church, " Fear not, little flock, for it is your 
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." 



J 00 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

And again he says, "On this rock," no doubt 
meaning himself, " will I build my church, and 
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." It 
will be recollected, that Christ's kingdom, or the 
church, is diverse from all other kingdoms • 
totally at variance with every carnal feeling, and 
has ever been opposed by all that is sinful in men, 
and by fallen spirits. Accordingly the civil arm 
has generally been raised to demolish it. And 
though a little flock, amidst a world in arms, and 
like lambs in the midst otivolves, it still exists, and 
proves that " the prophecy came not in old time 
by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as 
they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 

I have brought to view but a very small part of 
the predictions contained in the Bible, and which 
might be traced out in their fulfillment ; such as the 
prophecy of the False Prophet, and the rise and 
fall of empires, and the opposition of carnal men, 
to the pure and holy cause of God, our Redeemer, 
&,c. But I have presented before you enough to 
show, that many events were actually foretold, 
hundreds and thousands of years before they took 
place. And I have shown too, that the Scripture 
history of these things is sustained by numerous 
writers both for and against the doctrine of divine 
revelation. 

And now, I ask you to allow no more weight to 
the arguments used in support of the Bible, as 
the book of God, than is allowed to the same kind 
of arguments in support of other books. I ask 
for no exclusive favor to be shown for the Bible in 
the examination of its claims, I ask for no priv- 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 101 

ilege, which should not be granted to all other 
books, in the examination of their claims to au- 
thenticity. In determining its authority, I have 
only to ask for it, that it stand on a level with 
other books, and stand or fall on the very same 
kind of argumentation. Accordingly, I have not 
stood here before you to vindicate doubtful char- 
acters ; or to repair a broken or faltering system ; 
such efforts it needs not. Therefore I stand not 
here to hold up * a bowing wall, or a tottering 
fence;' but to ask for the Bible a fair, and open, 
impartial, and yet critical examination. I stand 
here also, if possible, to see it disabused of the 
wit of Shaftsbury, the sarcasm of Carlisle, the 
cunning of Voltaire, the sophisms of Hume, the 
round assertions of Bolingbroke, and the gibber- 
ish and the low and profane ridicule and slander 
of Thomas Paine. I stand here to invite you to 
a manly and enlightened investigation of the 
whole subject ; and I now ask no more, and only 
say, we are all equally interested in the discus- 
sion. 

I have now gone through with the examination 
of the subject, which respects the claims of the 
Bible to divine revelation ; and have endeavored 
to remove the difficulties and answer the objec- 
tions, which have been laid before me, supposed to 
obstruct the evidence in favor of such revelation. 
I hope 1 have done it, though briefly and imper- 
fectly, with a spirit of sobriety, kindness and 
candor, as I promised and intended. If I have 
failed in doing so, I shall find a refuge in the lib 
erality and candor of my numerous hearers, on 



102 ARGUMENTS FOR THE 

which I cheerfully cast myself. I am aware that 
very much more might be said on every topic, 
and much better said, both as to style and man- 
ner of presenting the subjects considered, as 
well as to the clearness, precision and point of 
argumentation. Nevertheless, I have my reward 
in conscious integrity, and in the hope that these 
feeble efforts may contribute an item to the edifi- 
cation and enlightening of some. And it is my 
ardent hope, that my friends, for whom these lec- 
tures were particularly designed, will not only 
consider it as an effort on my part to do them 
good, but do themselves the respect and kindness 
to search diligently, and with enlightened under- 
standings, into this great and interesting subject, 
to ascertain whether these things are so, and be 
ready to embrace the truth, as this is all that 
can eventually do them good, and which must 
•prevail. 

It is still objected by infidels after all, that 
< oilier religions are as well attested and of as ben- 
eficial influence on community, as the Christian 
religion. ' If this objection has not been suffi- 
ciently answered, I must very briefly say, further, 
that I seriously believe that if you will sit down 
to the examination of the evidences for and 
against the several systems, which have claimed, 
or do claim the adoption of rational men, to say 
nothing of their immortality, your intelligent 
mind will decide in favor of the Christian revela- 
tion. And, in submitting this case, I am willing 
to lay out of the account all the counteracting in- 
fluence of all those biases and pre-possessions in 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 103 

human nature in its fallen state, which pre-dis- 
poses men, unconsciously it may be, to decide in 
favor of a system of ethics and religion, which 
shall harmonize more exactly with their feelings, 
their strongest desires. 

The Alcoran, it is true, contains many very 
good things; but it must be remembered that these 
were drawn from the Christian Scriptures. And 
what if the followers of Mahomet act more in 
conformity with their sacred books than nominal 
Christians with theirs : I ask why is it, that the Al- 
Goran, which also contains many blasphemous and 
murderous principles, should command so much 
more respect and implicit obedience than the 
book of God, which Christians claim to be di- 
vine, and which contains nothing but what is 
good for man during his whole existence? Can 
it be resolved into anything except the depravity 
of his nature? 

Should it further be objected, as it sometimes 
has been, that the repeal of certain enacted laws 
renders the Bible of doubtful disputation, I have 
a few things to say to the objection. Begin the 
Bible and read it all carefully by course, and you 
may understand all the will of God concerning 
your faith and practice. You will find many 
laws, moral, judicial and ceremonial ; some re- 
lating particularly to the moral government of his 
kingdom ; some to the judicial; and others more 
strictly ecclesiastical, and which have relation to 
the regulation and erection of the church, which 
he regards as " the apple of his eye " Now take 
the following principle and carry it out ; viz. All 



104 ARGUMENTS, &C 

his laws are in force and obligatory upon us tilt 
God, the great Lawgiver, repeals them. 

And here I will add, that the language of re- 
peal, in every case, must be plain to the under- 
standing of those for whom the law is designed r 
and I think this principle will not be disputed. 

Now, for illustration, take the law o£ sacrifices, 
which was very plainly commanded, and given to 
the people of Israel, as seen in the book of Le- 
viticus. That law was observed by that nation till 
Christ came. If now we can find no repeal, that 
law must still be in force. But we have a repeal, 
full and clear, in the ninth and tenth chapters of 
Paul to the Hebrews ; to which I refer you. 

So we can find a repeal of the outward manner 
of keeping the law of the passovcr ; 1 Cor. 5. — 
The same of the law of circumcision; not the 
law of the seal itself, but the outward form of 
the seal, as in the last mentioned. So of all laws 
found in the Bible : all are in force till repealed 
by God himself. 



CONCLUSION. 105 



LECTURE VII. 

RECAPITULATION. EVIDENCE PECULIAR TO BE- 
LIEVERS. EXHORTATION. INFERENCES. CON- 
CLUSION. 

In this concluding lecture, I place over my 
subject for a text, the words of Paul to the Corin- 
thians : 

" I speak as to wise men ; judge ye what I say." 
I Cor. 10: 15. 

It seems that the apostle, in this chapter, meant 
to be understood as addressing persons of mature 
age, mature judgment, and enlightened under- 
standings. " I speak as to wise men, judge ye 
what 1 say." 

And the subject, too, which was the matter of 
his discussion, and which was the doctrine of the 
resurrection, ho considered of immense impor- 
tance : therefore he desired them to exercise the 
light and intelligence they had upon the subject 
under discussion, as men of reason and sound 
judgment. 

Therefore, in giving a summary of what I have 
said in the preceding lectures, and in making 
some deductions and appeals to men of mature 
age and judgment, I call upon you, in the lan- 
guage" of Paul, "Judge ye what I say. }) Truth, 
without fear or blushing, challenges investiga- 
tion. 

10 



106 CONCLUSION. 

The substance of the preceding lectures, as you 
know, was to sustain the doctrine, that the Bible 
is the word or revelation of God. In doing this, 
I endeavored both to remove objections and clear 
away suggested difficulties, and adduce direct ev- 
idence from reason, that the Bible is, as it pur- 
ports to be, divine revelation. 

I thought it suitable, in the outset, to give a 
brief view of the evidence there is in nature, that 
One Eternal Being exists at the head of the 
universe. This was shown by the things that 
are made. The world and the things it con- 
tains, both matter and finite intelligence, must 
have a cause: and the cause of all things must be 
without a cause : and this great first cause must 
be an infinite Intelligence, and possessed of all 
desirable moral and natural attributes. This, it 
is thought, has been shown from reason. 

I then took up the Bible, and my first remark, 
in order to clear the way for direct proof, was, 
that God is able to make a revelation to man. 

2. That there is nothing that can render it in- 
consistent with reason, or with the character of 
God, that he should make a revelation to his 
creatures. 

3. That a revelation from God is important and 
necessary for their good. They need it for a bet- 
ter understanding of the divine character, of their 
own, and of their condition and obligations, as 
moral and accountable beings. 

I then explained what I meant to he understood 
by a divine revelation. 

After answering some objections, I proceeded 



CONCLUSION. 107 

to direct proof that the Bible is divine revelation, 
as explained in the preceding remarks. 

My first argument was, that the Bible is such 
a revelation, or book, as mankind need. 

Objections answered ; and, 

2. The testimony the Bible gives concerning 
God and man, harmonizes with reason. 

Objections considered ; and, 

3. Its harmony with itself. 

Here objections were answered against the in- 
ternal evidence of the Scriptures. 

4. The manner and circumstances under which 
facts were related in the Bible prove its divine 
original. Both the writers, actors and spectators 
had their outward senses to bear witness to facts, 
and could' not, in the nature of the case, deceive, 
nor be deceived. Here other objections were an- 
swered, and the subject of miracles discussed. 

5. The Bible has survived all opposition, and 
gained advocates, in all past ages, which is further 
proof that it is from God, And so, 

6. The effects it has produced on the tempers 
and lives of men. 

My seventh and last argument was, the fulfill- 
ment of the prophecies. A few of these were 
traced out in their fulfillment, and others just 
brought into notice. 

And allow me now to say, there is a sort of 
divine sanctity, or unction, spread over the whole 
book. The dignity and sublimity of its style, and 
greatness of conception, have drawn forth the ad- 
miration of its learned friends and foes. Will 
you exceed in sublimity the following? " And 



108 CONCLUSION. 

God said, Let there be light ; and there was 
light." And will you find equal sublimity in any 
other book, to the following sentence in Rev. 20? 
" And I saw a great white throne, and Him that 
sat upon it, before whom the earth and the heav- 
en fled away, and there was found no place for 
them." 

In this book you can find no duplicity, or con- 
cealment, among all its writers. Even its myste- 
ries are suited to improve, and not mislead the 
reader. Divinity is stamped on its very aspect : 
it looks divine. It displays celestial glory, and 
breathes a divine benignity, peculiar to itself. It 
consoles the pious believer, and beguiles his tire- 
some way through the wilderness of this world. 
While tossed upon the tempestuous sea of life, it 
is his unvarying compass, his correct chart, and 
polar star, safely directing his course into the ha- 
ven of everlasting rest. 

I presume I shall be indulged with just stating 
and saying a few things on the evidence in favor 
of the Bible as a revealed book, which is common 
and peculiar to such as are made new creatures 
by its convincing and quickening power. 

It is not pretended that such evidence is dic- 
tated by reason alone, yet, as it is not contradic- 
tory to reason, and is highly satisfactory to a 
respectable class of persons, I am sure that the 
candor and kindness of those who do not profess 
to have experienced that change, will indulge in 
a brief attention to the subject, that the whole 
ground which the important article of divine in- 
spiration covers, may, in some sort, be explored. 



CONCLUSION. 109 

There is, as you know, as there always has 
been, a class in community, though generally 
small, of whose respectability I leave you to 
judge, who really believe in what is called experi- 
mental religion, and hope they have been the sub- 
jects of it. And you will allow, I trust, that those 
persons generally are sincere in their profession, 
that God has graciously renewed their hearts to 
love the truth as it is in Jesus. Now these per- 
sons have an evidence in their own souls, that the 
Bible is true, divine. Their minds are enlight- 
ened, as they trust, so as to believe its doctrines, 
and their hearts renewed, as they hope ; their 
moral feelings so changed, as cordially to receive 
that word as the rule of their faith and practice, 
As though cast into the mould of the gospel, they 
have received a divine impression, and a character 
which constitutes them ' new creatures. 1 

Now, these can no more resist the evidence that 
the Bible is the word of God, than you can resist 
the evidence of your outward senses. 

I will just give you here, in a few lines, the 
testimony, on this point, of the learned, as well as 
pious Matthew Henry, in his Preface to the New 
Testament : — " For my own part, if my thoughts 
were worth any one's notice, I do declare I have 
thought of this great concern with all the liberty 
that a reasonable soul can pretend to or desire ; 
and the result is, that the more I think, and the 
more freely I think, the more fully I am satisfied,, 
that the Christian religion is the true religion, and 
what, if I submit my soul sincerely to, I may 
venture my soul confidently upon. I cannot but 
*I0 



110 CONCLUSION. 

think that the gospel of Christ has had some in- 
fluence upon my soul, has had such a command 
over me, and been such a comfort to me, as is a 
demonstration to myself, though it cannot be so 
to another, that it is of God. 1 have tasted in it 
that the Lord is gracious, and the most subtle dis- 
putant cannot convince one who has tasted honey 
that it is not sweet." 

I am, however, aware that inexperience cannot 
have just such evidence; they have no sympathy 
for such things; it does not exist in the nature of 
moral truth that they should have, because it is 
matter of experience, and not of speculation. — 
Says Paul, 1 Cor. 2 : " The natural man receiv- 
eth not the things of the Spirit of God ; they are 
foolishness to him, neither can he know them, 
because they are spiritually discerned." 

I suppose that none will deny, that some of the 
doctrines, prohibitions and requirements of the 
Bible are uncongenial with the feelings of men 
in unrenewed nature. That book requires a holy, 
prayerful and benevolent life, and prohibits all 
licentiousness and immorality. Hence all men 
of wicked feelings and practices are condemn- 
ed by it. Accordingly some have said, they 
hoped it was not true. And it will take at least 
twice the evidence to convince men of the truth 
of what they dislike, that it will to prove to thern 
what they wish to be true. And may not this 
have prevented many from examining the evi- 
dence in favor of the Bible? Have they not 
stood off from evidence, lest they should be con- 
vinced of its divine authenticity ? Hence, as one 



CONCLUSION. Ill 

expresses it, "those persons who want a comfort- 
able religion, without self-denial, humiliation and 
mortification of their lusts, readily fall in with cu- 
rious speculations, and artful and interested de- 
ceivers of every description. " 

But we do well to keep it in memory, that if 
the Bible is true, as the greatest and best men in 
all ages have believed, after a thorough examina- 
tion of its claims, it is all important, of infinite 
moment to us as the creatures of God. Our wis- 
dom then is, to read it constantly and carefully. 
A critical examination has led many an infidel to 
receive the Bible as the book of God ; and then 
to 'receive with- meekness the ingrafted word, 
which is able to save their souls.' 

I shall now exhort to the study of the Bible, in 
connection with the evidence of its claims : 

1. As men of enlightened and independent 
minds. 

And you will allow me to be more earnest, as 
the assaults of skepticism are now so common and 
so bold. 

'The very excitement at the present day/ says 
Wilson, an English author of recent date, 'on 
subjects connected with religion, which have kept 
pace with the assaults of infidelity, leaves the un- 
informed believer more exposed to the revulsion 
which a state of decayed sensibility brings on. 
When men of warm religious affections are thrown 
upon their principles, if those principles are un- 
supported by solid grounds of reason, and some 
acquaintance with the evidences of Christianity, 
they are apt to give way for a time, and leave the 



112 CONCLUSION. 

mind open to the temptations of the spiritual ad- 
versary.' Let me say here, that the evidence 
should be studied by every man, that he may give 
the reasons of his belief in the holy Scriptures. 
And 1 further say, and say it to all especially who 
may have any doubts on the subject, that it is 
manly to meet the evidence openly and fairly. It 
is cowardly to shrink from a fair investigation. 
Look the subject in the face; meet it; and meet 
it as men of reason and ingenuousness. If - Ba- 
con, and Boyle, and Locke, and Newton, and 
Boerhaave bowed their mighty intellects to the au- 
thority of revelation, 5 after the most learned and 
thorough investigation, 'and spent their lives in- 
creasingly impressed with the belief, that the God 
of nature is also the God of the Bible, may they 
not be allowed to rebuke the flippancy of youth- 
ful and unfledged infidelity, and be permitted to 
summon men to inquire before they pronounce ? 
Is not their authority sufficient to call on the 
youthful skeptic to pause, and suspect that possi- 
bly he may be wrong?' Especially when we con- 
sider that these, and such men, have done incom- 
parably more for science and the good of mankind 
than all the infidels the world has ever known f 
Take a view of the greatest and best of them ; 
and what have they ever done to enlighten and 
felicitate mankind ? What have Volney, Diderot, 
D'Alembert, Voltaire, Herbert, Shaftsbury, Tin- 
dal, Morgan, Bolingbroke, Gibbon, Hume, Paine ; 
what have they ever done for the benefit of their 
race, in comparison with only Bacon or Newton; 
to say nothing of a bright constellation of natural 



CONCLUSION. 113 

and moral philosophers, and a shining galaxy of 
learned laymen and divines, profound in science? 

While we stand not upon great names for proof 
that the Bible is of God, but on the impregnable 
proof deduced from right reason, we know for 
certainty, that doubting is not. evidence, that a 
sneer is not proof, and that ridicule is not argu- 
ment against the inspiration of our sacred books. 
As ingenuous, independent and enlightened men, 
therefore, come to the investigation of this mo- 
mentous subject. 

And I exhort you to come to this subject, 

2. As men bound to immortality. 

In this respect, we are all alike and all deeply 
concerned. It cannot be a matter of indifference, 
or of minor concern to us, whether the Bible be 
true or false. We must unavoidably, be affected 
by it. The subject takes hold on our highest 
interests : It takes hold on eternity. Look at it 
herefore, as rational and immortal beings. Com- 
pare in a hypothetical process, the religion of the 
Bible with all other systems of religion. Those, 
who embrace the Christian religion lose nothing 
provided it should not prove true, and any other 
system should ; and no other system gains any- 
thing, provided it be true. But if the religion of 
the Bible should be found to be true, and, of 
course, every other religion false, then whose is 
the gain, and whose the loss ? and there is not a 
man upon earth, that does certainly know that 
the Bible is not true, or that any other system is. 
I ask the atheist, whether chance will not provide 
as well for the Christian, as for him ? And if he 



114 CONCLUSION. 

answer me according to the tenor of his own un- 
belief, he must allow, that our chances are equal. 
I ask the deist, if all are to be annihilated at 
death, what he gains over those, who believe in 
the immortality of the soul? If beyond this life, 
there is nothing, surely he gains nothing. I beg 
to know then, where is the gain of any other sys- 
tem, and where is the loss of that of the Chris- 
tian 1 

Some will say, perhaps, as some have said, 
that there is gain in the present world ; other sys- 
tems are not so clogged and perplexed with doubts 
and fears, anxiety and terror. But you will allow 
me to question at least, whether the atheist is 
always free and clear of doubt and anxiety, while 
he can make no certain calculations for another 
hour ! And whether the deist is always at rest 
while he expects soon to pass into non-existence l 
And some have doubted whether those who believe 
the Bible, and disbelieve in future punishment, 
are always free from doubts, respecting the truth 
of their system, as they do not certainly know but 
the orthodox system is true. And many are apt 
to think, that uncertainty and doubts do indeed 
spread over every other system, a gloom and 
darkness, which their abettors find it difficult en- 
tirely to dispel. 

David Hume, an English historian and infidel 
philosopher, supported by nothing but bare infi- 
delity, in life and in death, exclaimed in his lone- 
ly meditations, "I am affrighted, and confounded 
with that forlorn solitude in which I am placed 
by my philosophy. When I look abroad, I fore- 



CONCLUSION. 115 

see, on every side, dispute, contradiction and dis- 
traction. When I turn my e/es i/iward, I find 
nothing but doubt and ignorance Where am I, 
or what? From what causes do I derive existence, 
or to what condition do I return? I am con- 
founded with these questions; and I begin to 
fancy myself in the most dep/orable condition 
imaginab/e, environed with the deepest dark- 
ness." 

This soliloquy is (a character with infidelity, 
which seeks not sc* T itude, and cannot bear to be 
shut up to its owp reflections, or endure the reac- 
tion of its principle* So of Voltaire, a French 
infidel. Hear hirr exclaim ; " Who can, without 
horror consider c\\e whole earth as the empire of 
destruction ! It abounds in wonders ; it abounds 
also in victims. It is a vast field of carnage and 
contagion. Every species is without pity, pur- 
sued and corn to pieces, through the air and water. 
In man there is more wretchedness than in all 
other animals put together. He smarts continu- 
ally under two sources of evil, which other 
animals never feel ; anxiety and Iistlessness in 
pppetence, which make him weary of himself. 
He loves life, and yet he knows he must die. 
If he enjoy some temporal good, for which 
he is thankful to Heaven, he suffers various 
evils, and is at last devoured by worms. This 
knowledge is his fatal prerogative. Other ani- 
mals have it not. He feels it every moment, 
rankling and corroding in his breast. Yet he 
spends the transient moments of his existence in 
diffusing the misery, which he suffers, in cutting 



116 



CONCLUSION. 



the throau of his fellow creatures 'for pay; in 
cheating, and being cheated ; in serving that he 
may command: and in repenting of all that he 
does. The bul> of mankind are nothing more 
than a world of wretcaes, equally criminal and 
unfortunate ; and the globe contains rather car- 
casses than men I — iAremble upon a view of this 
dreadful picture, to find that it implies a com- 
plaint against divine Providence : and I wish I 
had never been born ! IV. — This is infidelity in its 
genuine character, unmasked, undisguised ; and 
illustrates the necessity of som* other religion to 
sustain the spirit of man. 

And now in view of the whole subject, I have 
to state one more acknowledged principle ; viz. 
No system should be rejected, till a better one is 
substituted. And it must be proved to be better, 
before it be admitted, by sound, logical aigumen- 
tation. Therefore, before you have \ right, as 
reasonable men, to reject the Christian system 
you are bound, upon the honor of men of en 
lightened understandings, to prove by soued ar 
gument, that the one you propose is better. 1 ask 
then, with much assurance, what gain, what ad- 
vantage has any other system of religion over the 
system contained in the Bible ? We are willing 
to give a candid and impartial hearing to all the 
arguments, logic and .moral demonstrations, that 
can be offered by the most able advocates of other 
systems, and allow all the weight to their argu- 
ments, which reason requires. And if it can be 
fairly shown, that any other system holds a supe- 
riority over the Christian, and is adapted to render 






CONCLUSION. 117 

men better or happier, here or hereafter, we will 
gladly give up the worse for the better. But it 
must be proved. New schemes have not been tri- 
ed so long as old ones. What system has been 
tried and proved so long as Christianity? Bring 
forward the system that has the test of twenty 
centuries, by nations and states living under its in- 
fluence, and acting in civil and social life upon its 
principles. Christianity has had this test. I urge 
the principle. As in our courts, he is presumed 
to be innocent who is not proved to be guilty, I 
insist that you are under the strongest logical and 
moral obligation, to receive the system of religion 
contained in the Bible, till you bring forward an- 
other better tested than this. " I speak as to wise 
men ; judge ye what I say." 

And here I may ask, in the language of the 
American Encyclopedist ; * Where is the man, 
among all believers, whose logic or virtue has 
suggested and evinced an improvement of the sys- 
tem he renounces? Where is the infidel philoso- 
pher, who, in other inquiries, retains that scrupu- 
losity of logic, which he tortures to perplex the 
evidence of the gospel ? The blashemy of Vol- 
taire they try by gentler scrutiny than the doctrine 
of Jesus. With these men, and a multitude of 
their followers, the cruelty of some interested 
Jews, the obstinacy of a few ancient believers in 
magic, the palpable mistakes and misrepresenta- 
tions of insidious or ignorant men, the apostasy 
of a profligate emperor, and the sneer of a petu- 
lant Frenchman; these are better logic with them, 
and they pass off as higher proof, than the opin- 
11 



118 CONCLUSION. 

ions of the learned, the practice of the virtuous, 
the certainty of the inference of the cause from 
the effects, the faith of nations, the accomplish- 
ment of prophecy, the demonstration of miracles, 
and the blood and testimony of ten thousand mar- 
tyrs/' 

I will now close with an inference or two from 
what has been said. 

1. That the Bible can never be destroyed. Be- 
ing the word of God, it must stand forever. It 
is truth, and must and will prevail. Not all the 
sophistry of which an infatuated world is master, 
nor the malignity of wicked men and demons, in 
single or joint combat, can cast it down, or drive 
it from the abodes of men. You may as well 
think you can take the sun from the firmament 
with the point of your sword, and hurl him back 
to chaos, or, by an act of your will, sink the cre- 
ated universe into oblivion, as to meditate the an- 
nihilation of the volume God has written. 

2. If the Bible is the revelation of God, we 
may joyfully anticipate the jubilee of the world. 
Then Christ shall ' reign on earth a thousand 
years. 5 * All shall know the Lord, from the least 
to the greatest/ ' Nations shall beat their swords 
into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning 
hooks, and learn war no more.' ' From the rising 
of the sun, even unto the going down of the same,' 
says God by Malachi, ' my name shall be great 
among the Gentiles ; and in every place incense 
shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offer- 
ing ; for my name shall be great among the hea^ 
then, saith the Lord of hosts.' 



CONCLUSION. 119 

And this period of universal peace and joy, 
which is called a thousand years, is sure to come ; 
this jubilee of the world hastens on. And shall 
we not welcome its approach ? The world, you 
know, has been full of sin and wretchedness ever 
since the fall. Superstition and brutality have 
marked every age. The gloom of moral death 
has spread all over the nations. The curse of 
God has rested on every nation, in every clime. 
Terror, devastation and death have overspread the 
world, and converted it into an aceldama, a field 
of blood unto this day ! — But, since " the gifts 
and callings of God are without repentance,' 7 we 
may confidently rely on his gracious promises. 
He will summon the nations of the earth, and 
they shall cheerfully bow before him, and willing- 
ly submit to his righteous dominion. The whole 
world is to be regenerated, and all the ends of 
the earth shall see the salvation of God, when all 
nations and kindreds under heaven, shall, em- 
brace and act under the benign influence of those 
elevated principles, which stand out in bold relief 
throughout the sacred volume. The iron hand of 
despotism, which grasps the tyrant's sword, shall 
be unclenched, and every warrior's heart shall 
melt in love and tenderness, while " peace shall 
be extended as a river, and righteousness as the 
waves of the sea." Therefore, let the righteous 
glory in the grace of God their Savior, while they 
steadfastly pursue the way the ancient worthies 
trod, without interruption and without fear. And 
I earnestly exhort all unbelievers to come to the 
perusal of the Bible, with a sober and reverential 



120 CONCLUSION. 

spirit. I plead not for a superstitious adoration of 
the book, but as a communication of the great 
God to his dependent and guilty creatures. As 
such, we should approach it with modesty, meek- 
ness and docility. In approaching this holy ground, 
unloose your shoe, and walk softly, as though God 
were speaking with an audible voice. Peruse the 
word with the attention and interest you would 
peruse a pardon sent you, a criminal in the eye of 
law, sent you by the King of kings. And bear 
in mind, that the doctrines, requirements, prohi- 
bitions, promises and sanctions are all justified 
by reason. But what if some will not believe the 
exceeding great and precious promises of the gos- 
pel 1 It only proves that they have no interest in 
them. And what if you will not believe in its 
sanctions ? ' Shall your unbelief make the truth 
of God without effect ? God forbid ; ' for ' God is 
not unrighteous, who taketh vengeance.' 

No man who has the Bible, can be excused for 
imbibing essential errors, or adopting such prac- 
tice as shall hedge up his way to happiness and 
glory. The understanding must be darkened, 
not to be captivated with the sublimity and gran- 
deur of the subjects, which compose the sacred 
Scriptures ; and that heart must be destitute of 
holiness, that is not charmed by the sentiments 
which stand out on every page. If life and im- 
mortality are brought to light by the gospel, and 
pardon may be had by a pure faith in its princi- 
ples, then the neglecters, and especially those who 
despise it, have reason to fear, lest that come up- 
on them, which was spoken by the prophets, " Be- 
hold, ye depisers, and wonder and perish ! " 



CONCLUSION. 121 

In conclusion, let all my hearers be entreated 
to yield up their intelligence and their hearts to 
the Lord. Your spirit, soul and body are his. 
'I beseech you by the mercies of God, that you 
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and ac- 
ceptable to the Lord, which is your reasonable 
service. ' I beseech you, by the invaluable, worth 
of your never-dying spirits, that you 'break off 
your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by 
turning unto God,' while it is an accepted time, 
and a day of grace ; for you hear the mighty 
Sovereign of the universe, yet upon the throne of 
mercy, calling after you, in the most kind and 
compassionate manner, " Turn ye, turn ye, why 
will ye die?" O give Him your hearts, embrace 
the ennobling principles of the gospel, and prac- 
tice according to its precepts, and he will save 
you with an everlasting salvation. 



APPENDIX, 



No. I. [See page 13, near the top.] 

Do atheists, (for there are those who would be 
thought such !) do such men really believe that 
the instincts of irrational animals happen without 
design ? Is it all a chance that they so universally 
protect and provide for their young ? Is it chance 
that furnishes them with the means of such pro- 
tection and provision 1 Does chance provide for 
the perpetuation of the endless variety of species 
in air, and earth, and water, by creating an equal 
number of the sexes, and causing each to prop- 
agate its own hind? Is there no intelligent de- 
sign to be perceived in this adaptedoess and uni- 
formity ? 

Again : did the innumerable particles of matter 
of which the solar system is composed, jumble 
together fortuitously into their present form and 
order ? Do seed-time and harvest, summer and 
winter, day and night, proceed on in regular suc- 
cession, century after century, and millenary after 
millenary, uncontrolled by established laws? Or 
did chance, which has no will or design, establish 
such laws ? That must have been a wonderful 
chance, which hung and balanced the planets with 
so much nicety and exactness, that in their cir* 



APPENDIX. 123 

cumvolutions there should be no jar nor interfer- 
ence whatever among them ! Is the exact pro- 
portion of the centrifugal and centripetal forces, 
which occasions revolutions so regular and exact 
that eclipses may be calculated for any length of 
time, past or future, without the variation of a mo- 
ment ; — is such perfect balancing as this, the 
effect of no cause, — of blind, unmeaning, unde- 
fined, and undefinable fatality, called chance? — 
Say not that matter is eternal, or that the world 
has always been as it now is, or that the material 
universe, as some modern freethinkers pretend to 
think, is God: for that which changes cannot be 
eternal, as every change must be an effect of an an- 
tecedent cause ; for a thing cannot independently 
change itself, any more than it could create itself, 
which every one must perceive at first sight, to 
be the first-born of absurdities. And if, on the 
gross supposition, the material universe were God, 
then the material universe must be intelligent and 
omnipotent ; for intelligence and omnipotence are 
visible wherever you turn your eye, or listen to a 
sound ; whether you consider the wonderful or- 
ganization of animal bodies, the seven original 
colors, or the seven original different sounds in 
nature, and the endless diversification of shade in 
the one case, and of modulation in the other. Prob- 
ably the notable circumstance, that intelligence, 
icisdom and poicer are seen everywhere, is the rea- 
son of the more than Egyptian darkness, which 
envelopes the benighted minds of atheists. They 
overlook the true philosophy of the case, viz : that 
the invisible Deity, omnipotent, omniscient and 
12 



124 APPENDIX. 

omnipresent, operates everywhere in this matte? $ * 
unseen, yet unceasingly, which gives it the appear* 
ance of intelligence and independent animation^ 
while matter only acts according to the exact 
laws, which the great Creator has constituted \ 
and while those laws are nothing else but the pow* 
er of the great FIRST CAUSE operating in and 
through every particle of matter of which bodies 
are composed. 

The atheist is also driven irito the same pitiful 
dilemma, in accounting for the existence of intel- 
ligent beings ; either they came by chance^ or 
were produced by an infinite and eternal Intel- 
ligence : for I will not admit for a moment, that 
an intelligent being can possibly be so monstrous-' 
ly unreasonable and absurd as to say, that intelli- 
gence can create itself ! The whole system, of 
atheism, therefore, is so vapid, puny, and even 
palpably idiotic, that every rational man, in the 
sober use of his intellectual powers, must instantly 
abandon it. And were it not for the hope of dis- 
sipating the darkness in which his mind is so 
deeply enveloped, and preventing such darkness 
from settling over the minds of others, it would 
hardly be possible seriously to attempt a reftV 
tation. 

It is truly a matter of wonder and surprise^ 
that men, who give abundant proof of reputable,^ 
and even eminent intelligence in other matters, 
should be so grossly bewildered and lost to all 
sense of reason on this momentous and fundament 
tal article in the religion of nature and revelation I 
May the Lord seasonably rend the veil from th0 



APPENDIX. 



125 



minds of all such, and graciously preserve us all 
from silencing or perverting the reason he has 
given us ; and his shall be the praise. 

No. II. [See page 21, near the top.] 

Reason in relation to man, is like instinct in 
the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and fish 
of the sea. They all seek what is for their health 
and comfort in the support of life, and make use 
of so much as is good for their health and comfort ; 
and if in any case they eat and drink to excess, 
it is owing to the sin or improvidence of those 
who control them, and who are the faulty cause 
of most of their misery. 

Do you say, " it is according to the instincts of 
nature that they bite and devour one another ? " 
But is not this rather a calamity fallen on them by 
the sin of man? Was it so before the fatal apos- 
tasy ? Were they not all harmless then? and* did 
they not all live as those did who were appointed 
to rule over them? and to rule, not as tyrants, 
but as kind and reasonable masters ? 

Lay this, therefore, out of the account. If they 
should follow all the instincts of original nature, 
which was " very good," like the ground before 
it " was cursed for man's sake," they would all 
be harmless, and live in perfect and uninterrupted 
peace. 

So, reason in mankind directs them to what is 
best adapted to render them happy. It is not rea- 
son, it is not innocent nature, that dictates excess 



126 APPENDIX. 

in meats, drinks and exercise. If men have such 
an appetite as dictates excess in anything, it is an 
artificial appetite, procured by their own folly and 
imprudence; or factitious in the primary sense of 
the word, and then it is procured by a presumptu- 
ous perversion of the reason which God has given, 

— the plain and spontaneous dictates of unabused 
nature. Accordingly we find, (as is undoubtedly 
the case,) every climate producing food, physic, 
and clothing enough, and well adapted, for all its 
population of rational and irrational animals ; and 
provided men would, as they might by their 
inventive genius and healthful industry, ascertain 
what is best adapted to their wants, as beasts, 
fowls and reptiles do by instinct, and were as sa- 
gacious in the application as well as discovery, 
men would not be under the mortifying necessity 
of taking lessons from that part of creation, over 
which they boast such a vast superiority. 

The instincts of nature teach the irrational 
creatures of God's power, to protect and provide 
for their young. But, if a human mother, who is 
also taught the same by instinct and by reason too, 
under the influence of the intoxicating draught, 
which is contrary to nature, or by any other influ- 
ence, becomes a monster ; or if the father, under 
the heat of intoxication, " scatters firebrands, ar- 
rows and death, " among the defenceless members 
of his family, who at least merit from him, and 
have a right to expect, the protection which the 
lion, not to say the lioness, gives to his whelps, 

— that man has not only silenced the instincts of 
nature, but dethroned reason, and becomes not a 



APPENDIX. 127 

brute, for to say this, would be a libel on the char- 
acter of the brutal ereation ; but he becomes a de- 
mon in human shape. As long as reason holds 
her empire, you will witness, to the same extent, 
domestic peace, comfort and prosperity. So of 
most of the infelicities in all ages and all over the 
world : you may trace them to the perversion of 
reason; to a counteraction of the laws of nature. 
If all would follow these laws, every man would 
be the friend of every man ; and instead of mu- 
tual jealousies and wrongs, you would see each 
conspire to render the other happy. 

Must not, therefore, the Being who has given 
such instincts to the irrational tribes, and super- 
added reason to man, be supremely good ? 

No. III. [See page 29, at the bottom.] 

Under the theocracy, when God, by direct in- 
spiration, governed the nation of the Hebrews, the 
condition of females was elevated to a proper 
standard. They were neither the lords nor the 
slaves of men, but had their respectable rank in the 
world. And so the Bible everywhere teaches by 
its principles drawn out into practice. David rep- 
resents them, (Psalm 144,) as they should be rep- 
resented, and as they should be, " Corner stones, 
polished after the similitude of a palace. n As the 
foundation of an edifice is laid in exact conformity 
to the corner stones, so the state of community 
will be as females give the direction. It is in their 
power to bring up a profligate race which will 
sink by its own weight, into infamy and ruin, as 
the profligate Israelites were corrupted and ruined 
12* 



128 APPENDIX. 

by the daughters of Moab, according to the insti- 
gation of Balaam. As the Bible is the only book, 
or its religion and policy is what alone elevates 
women to their proper rank in the world, we\\ may 
they employ their irresistible influence to give 
effect to the doctrines and duties of divine reve- 
lation, not only at home, but all over the world, 
in the greatest part of which they are now in a 
shamefully degraded condition, and will be so, till 
light, shining from the oracles of truth, shall show 
them a more excellent way. 

It may not be amiss, here, to say a few things 
on the importance to the community of female edu- 
cation and character. 

Females are like " corner sto?ies" to the communis 
ty, giving direction and shape to the whole political 
and moral, as well as scientific and religious state. 
And if they are " polished after the similitude of a 
palace, — are intelligent and virtuous, they will raise 
up a well-organized, intelligent and virtuous com- 
munity. Such has been our community onward 
from the days of the Pilgrims, because such were 
our mothers. They were not degraded below 
their proper rank of companions and governesses 
in their appropriate departments. They were not 
kept in ignorance, and consequent degradation^ 
as among the Hindoos, where it is accounted a 
shame for females to learn to read ; but thej were 
well informed, and like the ( honorable women' 
mentioned in the Acts, shone as polished stones 
in the spiritual temple of God. 

As on females devolves the principal care of 
raising a generation that shall take the govern- 
ment in church and state, how great is their respon- 



APPENDIX. 129 

sibility, and how carefully and intelligently should 
they be educated. Did men duly realize their prodi- 
gious influence, we should see the world alive for 
their education, both in science, morality and re- 
ligion. The mother of Amaziah was as really his 
destroyer, as she was his counsellor to do wicked- 
ly. And the mother and grandmother of Timo- 
thy, were the occasion of his happiness and useful- 
ness in the church, as they taught him from a 
child to know the Scriptures. They can give di- 
rection to genius, and shape the mind much as 
they please ; for habits of thinking and acting 
are formed in the nursery, where the characters 
of men receive a stamp, which time will not oblit- 
erate. Woman's influence will run through all 
time, and never cease. 

Though divine providence have ordained for 
women, in some respects, a more limited and un- 
observed sphere of action, yet it is honorable and 
important. They touch the secret springs of soci- 
ety, which turn the wheels which move the world. 
While they give the earliest instructions, and first 
direct their little intelligences how to think, and 
speak, and act, they have the training of all the 
philosophers, and statesmen, and philanthropists, 
and ministers of religion. All the mighty move- 
ments of the present day to reform and save man- 
kind, as well as the past prosperity of our coun- 
try, may be traced back to the nursery , where you 
will find the ' corner stones.' There the first im- 
pressions were made, the first sentiments taught, 
and the first inclinations given. There is wielded 
the destinies of nations, ' just as the twig is bent.' 



130 APPENDIX, 

And there the mighty, controlling power must re- 
main : and there let it remain. There is more 
sympathy in their bosoms, and more tender sensi- 
bility than in those of our sex, whose lot in life is 
cast amidst the bustle, and business, and tempta- 
tions of the world. We need their sweet and re- 
tiring, though powerful influence. Let the daugh- 
ters of our land set their faces with united frowns 
against dueling, gaming, intemperance, idleness, 
profaneness and Sabbath-breaking, as well as 
against other vices, and there will be a reforma- 
tion, in spite of parliament, prince or pope. 

While fathers, therefore, are careful to give their 
daughters such education as shall fit them to gow 
ern the world, the mothers will early imbue the 
minds of their sons with such knowledge as shall 
make them " plants grown up in their youth," and 
safe pillars in church and state. I know that they 
desire the happiness of their children : and as they 
do, let them train them in habits of industry, vir- 
tue, and all good morality ; " Train them up in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Thus, 
and not otherwise, will their " sons be as plants 
grown up in their youth ; and their daughters be 
as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a 
palace." Their bodies and souls are committed 
to their mothers for keeping and training ; and 
from their earliest infant smiles, they draw from 
them, though imperceptibly, not only physical but 
mental growth. While the mind is flexible and 
soft, they enstamp on their children their future 
character, as wax is turned to the seal. Kings, 
emperors, potentates of the earth, hold not a sta- 



APPENDIX. 181 

tion so important, so interesting, so responsible as 
mothers. And their daughters are destined like 
them, though it may be but little thought of, to 
exert a powerful and extensive, though it may be 
imperceptible and silent influence in giving form 
and character to church and state, as " corner 
stones" to an edifice ; O let them be "polished 
after the similitude of a palace." As sure as that 
another generation shall arise upon earth, so sure 
it is, that the young women of the present genera- 
tion will give the next generation a character ; 
yes, they will enstamp their own upon it, and the 
impress may endure for many generations. O, 
then, may our daughters abuse not the power ; 
pervert not the mighty influence with which they 
are invested by the God of nature ; but be moved 
by motives lofty and ingenuous, to that elevated 
course of life, which will at once be an honor to 
their sex, and a good blessing to their species. 
They have Sarah, and Hannah, and Anna, and 
Mary, with a company of " honorable women not 
a few," set before them as worthy examples. — I 
know they will permit me, in conclusion, to be- 
seech them, in a most kind and affectionate man- 
ner, by all that is interesting in time, and all that 
is valuable in eternity, to add to all their amiable 
accomplishments with which nature and education 
have endowed them, that chief one, " the adorning 
of the hidden man of the heart, in that ichich is 
not corruptible, even the ornaments of a meek 
and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of 
great price." 



132 APPENDIX. 



No, IV. [See page 30, 3d line from bottom.] 

It has not been uncommon for men of loose, 
heretical sentiments, to undervalue the importance 
of the religious and moral principles contained in 
the Bible, by alleging that they have little or no 
influence on the practice of men. They will tell 
you, "No matter what a man believes, if his prac- 
tice be good; " intimating that his practice will 
probably be as good without, as with those prin- 
ciples : and to prove it, will point you to one and 
another of loose principles, who lead as honest 
and moral lives as those who imbibe what are call- 
ed orthodox principles. — That there are such 
cases, I have no disposition to deny ; would that 
they were more frequent. But I do deny that 
loose sentiments in religion, other things being 
equal, will induce that morality, which the great 
doctrines of the Bible will induce; for it is a true- 
proposition, that men will act according to their 
belief ox unbelief ', other things being equal : and 
when they do not so act, the following are some of 
the probable reasons. 

1. It may be, as it is in a moral community, 
unpopular to act out their loose sentiments. They 
are restrained from motives of policy to act in ac- 
cordance with the popular sentiment. The his- 
tory of man will show, that saying this, is no libel 
on the human character. 

2. Some men are blessed by the God of nature 
w T ith such sympathies, or kind and ingenuous feel- 
ings, as prompt them to act in harmony with the 



APPENDIX. 133 

dictates of good common sense, without having 
much to do with principle.. 

3. Others are cast in so heavy and earthly a 
mould, — are of such sluggish cast of character, 
as scarcely to act at all. 

4. Others again, from their learne d and enlarg- 
ed views of the social and political state of men, 
are induced to adhere to what is best suited to 
promote the good of men in their social and civil 
state. And, 

5. And principally, they have been brought up 
under the strict principles of the Christian faith* 
They find it difficult, as in all similar cases, to 
overcome the influence of such principles, which 
have been radicated in their mind in early life, 
and subsequently cultivated. So with heathens, 
Turks, Papists and Jews, in regard to their re- 
spective principles. And is it not even so re- 
specting Orthodox Christianity ? The influence is 
felt through life. The change of views does not 
annihilate the power of education. This power 
runs along, and runs on, as the machine, after the 
impelling power ceases directly to act. And this 
power is generally felt, in some degree, to the 
end of life, though men may not be aware of it. 



No. V. [See page 36, close of Lecture 2.] 

There are two objections I have heard stated 
to the remarks I have made relative to the sun's 
standing still, and the shadow's going back on the 
mn*dial of Ahaz. One is, that the earth might 



134 APPENDIX, 

stop her diurnal motion, or go back, without inter- 
rupting the rest of the system, or effecting any de- 
rangement, as I have supposed. But this is not 
proved. Besides, the moon stopped too. Now it 
is to be presumed, till it is proved otherwise, that 
such is the nice balancing of the whole connected 
system when set in motion, that any variation 
from the original order in that complicated ma- 
chine, would derange the whole. When set in 
motion, it was probably on the principle, that all 
the motions, diurnal or annual, both of the prima- 
ry and secondary planets were taken into the ac- 
count, and were necessary to sustain a perfect 
balance. 

The other objection is, that God would not 
make such displays of power on such occasions. 
But this is not proved. 

I can surely see nothing derogatory to the char- 
acter of an infinitely wise Being in causing the 
whole system to stop on those occasions, any more 
than in bringing fire from heaven to consume the 
sacrifice of Elijah, or arresting the laws of nature 
in the case of Daniel and his companions. It is by 
the display of power that s the nations are to know 
that they are but men. 1 Why cause the Red Sea 
to divide, and water to gush from the flinty rock ? 
He who has the sovereign control of all things, 
could as easily have smitten Korah and his com- 
pany dead in an instant, as he did the hundred, 
fourscore and five thousand assailants of Israel,, 
as to cause the earth to open and close upon them 
forever. It is by making his power known, that) 
kings and nations are made to fear before him. 



APPENDIX. 135 



No. VI. [See page 42.] 

The religion inculcated and recommended in 
the Bible, has had many advocates who have de- 
served well of the literary and religious world ; 
while others have made religion a mass of sensu- 
alities, fit only for beings of a grosser texture. 
Others, again, have considered it as altogether too 
elementary , — too subtle or refined for the pres- 
ent state of being. * They have refined it down 
by a sort of moral chymistry/ till nothing remains 
adapted to common use ; purely spiritual, and 
must be reserved for another, and different state 
of being. Others consider it a gloomy religion, 
inducing melancholy, and suited to damp the joys, 
diminish the pleasures, and destroy the happiness 
of man. But those who have felt its power, know 
to the contrary. And some have invidiously 
charged upon Christianity almost all the evils 
that are experienced in human society. They 
will tell you that " Christ came to set a man at 
variance against his father, the daughter against 
her mother, " &c. But, the truth is, Christ did 
not say that such would be the natural tendency 
of his religion ; but that such events would follow 
the introduction of the gospel ; and because men 
would set their hearts against the pure doctrines 
and self-denying practices, which it enjoined. — 
Whenever, therefore, you are interrogated with, 
" Whence come wars and fightings," it will al- 
ways be safe to reply, as James has taught you, 
11 Come thev not hence, even of your lusts f" 
13 



136 APPENDIX 

Alas ! here is the fruitful source of all animosi- 
ties, tumults, wars, bloodshed and death. But 
" pure religion and undented before God and the 
Father, is this : to visit the fatherless and the 
widows in their affliction, and to keep himself un- 
spotted from the world. ;j This is the religion of 
the Bible brought down to practical use, and pro- 
duced by the celestial principle of love to God and 
man, radicated in the soul, and thus assuming the 
empire of the mind. A revengeful disposition 
was never excited or cherished by pure religion. 
If communities suffer from the evil passions, it is 
for the want of religion. Men are not worse 
members of community because they are reli- 
gious : our state prisons are not occupied by such 
people as live according to the principles of Chris- 
tianity. Ask every hangman how many robbers 
and murderers he has choked by the halter, who 
were brought there by leading a life of godliness? 
Ask our judicial courts whether they think the 
criminals brought before them for trial, were ar^ 
raigned for " denying ungodliness and worldly 
lusts V Who are the fomenters of discord, ha- 
tred, variance, emulations, wraths, strifes, sedi- 
tions, heresies ? Who believes that the thief 
obeys the eighth commandment ; the murderer, 
the sixth ; or the liar, the ninth ? When you pull- 
ed your intoxicated neighbor out of the ditch, did 
you think he came there by being " temperate in 
all things/' as the Bible requires? When you 
saw the peace of families broken up, the wife and 
children grossly abused, and even murdered by 
an almost infernal father and husband, did you 



APPENDIX. 137 

think he was acting under the influence of re- 
vealed religion? And, if you see good men speak 
or do wrongs you cannot charge it to religion, 
but to unsubdued passions. If they are unkind, 
it is not because they have religion, but because 
they have not enough of it, and are not enough 
under its control. Idleness, poverty and want are 
not induced by religion, but by " spending money 
for that which is not bread," contrary to the re- 
quirements of religion, " and their labor for that 
which satisfieth not." Whatever may have been 
said, or thought to the contrary, lawful authority 
has been least resisted, where religion has mlist 
prevailed ; and those who have been imbued with 
its spirit, and actuated by its power, have been, 
and now are, the best supporters of government. 

Human science has done much to mitigate the 
distresses of men, and benefit the world : it has sug- 
gested many useful inventions and improvements, 
to lengthen and felicitate human existence ; but the 
most cultivated and refined state of society ivithout 
religion, has ever been destitute of what constitutes 
the highest happiness the world is capable of en- 
joying. Let religion go down, and free govern- 
ment will go down as fast. Religion, with its in- 
stitutions, is the bulwark of the state. Let the 
holy Sabbath, public prayer, and preaching of 
the word be forgotten, or remembered only to be 
rejected and despised, and there is an end to 
liberty, order, and happiness in community. Re- 
vealed religion prompts its possessor to seek and 
delight in the general welfare. As in large com- 
munities, so in families, which are not under the 



138 APPENDIX. 

influence of religion, (to use the words of anoth- 
er,) " the rough edges of one man often rub against 
those of another, and the friction is such as 
to injure the works, and disturb the just arrange- 
ments and regular motions of the social machine. " 
But where religion predominates in families and 
communities, " all those roughnesses are filed 
down, every wheel rolls round smoothly in the 
performance of its appointed functions, and there 
is nothing to retard their several movements, or 
to break in upon the general order." 

As to individuals, religion so purifies and ele- 
vates the pleasures of life, that all the artificial 
luxuries within the compass of man's invention, 
can hardly be brought for a comparison. It se- 
cures an enlarged and ennobled feeling, a compre- 
hension of thought, and expansion of soul, which 
associates him with angels, and renders him godlike. 
" The ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and 
all herpaths are peace." Christianity requires none 
of those austerities, mortifications and severities, 
which other religions require; nor popish penances, 
which are at once painful, ridiculous and absurd. 
True religion is a substitute for honor. It is honor ; 
for though a man be deprived of all the honors of 
the world, he has that which comes from God, and 
is born to a kingdom. It is pleasure too, refined 
and exalted. It has not dried up the fountains, 
nor diverted a stream, which constitutes an essen- 
tial part of his felicity. The mighty stream which, 
bears along with it perennial felicity, has its 
source in the heart of paradise. — Religion is 
also a valuable substitute for wealth. It is wealth ; 



APPENDIX. 



139 



— the " true riches." While the wealth of the 
world often takes to itself wings and flies away, 
and ruins the man that dotes upon it, it has only 
taken from the good man a little equipage and furni- 
ture; but has not touched his capital; for that is 
sustained by the signature of Heaven. His very dis- 
positions are happy. He has heaven, in miniature, 
in his very soul ; is happy when alone, and happy 
when he can express the benevolent affections of 
his heart, in acts of kindness, sympathy and love. 
But the man of no religion is not so ; if he is of 
a malignant disposition, he is unhappy when ob- 
jects are wanting on which to spend his maligni- 
ty. " He sleeps not except he have done mis- 
chief; and his sleep is taken away, unless he 
cause some to fall." 

There is another view we may take of revealed 
religion, which " brings life and immortality to 
light ; " and it is this : it lives in all its excel- 
lence and glowing vitality, after the king of ter- 
rors shall have made his stern demands, and 
brought down what is mortal to the grave. Na- 
ture may yield to the overpowering force of time 
or disease ; the world itself may be wrapt in inex- 
tinguishable flames, and all it contains be burnt 
up ; but the good part remains untouched ; it is 
" a treasure in heaven, where moth and rust do 
not corrupt. " Its durability stamps upon it a 
value inexpressible ; it is " charity that never fail- 
eih;" the "good part that shall never be taken 
away." It detracts not a little from the value of 
other good which men enjoy, that it is limited in 
its duration. If it do not perish with the using, 
13* 



140 APPENDIX. 

as most of earthly things do, we know we shall not 
always enjoy it. How greatly is the value of tem- 
poral things diminished by the unavoidable con- 
sideration, that we hold them by an uncertain 
tenure ! To-day you are rich ; by to-morrow or 
next year, some unforseen casualty, as in the case 
of Job, may strip you of all your possessions ! 
Lovely as your dear families may be, and much 
as they may contribute to your happiness, not only 
is the possession of them precarious, but such is 
the instability of what is human, soon their very 
existence may constitute the very source of your 
infelicity ! To-day you are honored with the 
courtesy, respects and attentions of the world ; 
all may be proud to lavish their praises, and 
heap their honors upon you, with loud hosannas. 
But the lapse of a few short months may change 
the scene : for praise they may give you reproach, 
and obloquy for honor. You are now in the pos- 
session of health, which is the sweetest ingredient 
in the cup of life, and are surrounded with all that 
can render life agreeable : but at best and at 
longest, if not unsatisfying while they last, are of 
short and precarious existence ! But if you pos- 
sess experimental religion, you not only have it 
with all its celestial consolation to-day, but it is 
yours to-morrow ; time shall not tarnish its glory, 
nor eternity obliterate its grateful recollections. 
Like gold, religion contains in itself the real value 
of sterling and indubitable worth; it is more than 
an equivalent for all the honors, riches and pleas- 
ures of this world, which, without religion, fail to 
make you happy ; while religion, without these, 



APFRNDIX. 141 

brings in the present life, " a hundred fold 
more." 

What can the man of no religion hang his 
hopes of happiness upon, when the world with its 
consolations shall fail ? His sensual felicities will 
surely die ; for he cannot always relish them. 
The gratification of the passions must, according 
to their nature, cease : his finical embellishments, 
which are of reputation among the fantastic and 
the gay, will all fade away forever ! ! At length, 
" Man giveth up the ghost ; and where is he ? n 

No. VII. [See last paragraph on page 101.] 

It might further be remarked, that the inciden- 
tal references to men and events, by Christ and 
his apostles, is additional testimony in favor of 
the divine inspiration of the Scriptures. Jesus 
Christ incidentally spake of Noah and the flood ; 
of Abraham and the prophets ; of Sodom, and Jo- 
nah, and Nineveh; of Babylon and Tyre; of the 
Queen of the south, David and Solomon, &c. 
And the apostles incidentally spake of the same; 
as Peter, of Noah and the flood ; Jude, of Sodom 
and Gomorrah, and the cities about them ; Paul, 
of Egypt, miracles in the wilderness, institutions, 
customs, civil and ecclesiastical polity, &,c. Now, 
these persons and events were often referred to as 
matters of well-known historical facts, which none 
disputed. How much this tells in favor of the 
truth of the Bible. 



142 APPENDIX. 



No. VIIL [Seepage 118, after the first paragraph.] 

As it is very important that all should be able 
to defend the Bible with the power of conclusive 
reasoning, against the insidious and bold attacks 
of unbelievers of various casts, and especially such 
as admit the Bible to be divine revelation, I sub- 
join a few directions as to the manner in which 
the Bible should be read. 

In the first place, come to the perusal of it 
with the full belief that it is the word of God, in 
whose haud are you and your destinies forever ; 
and search with the impression that all your in- 
terests are bound up in that volume. 

Come to the Bible with a heart fully set on 
knowing the truth, as that alone can be of any 
advantage to your immortal nature. Search as 
for your life, and turn indignantly aw T ay from that 
man, and from that sentiment which would ob- 
struct your faithful and profitable perusal ; and 
while you believe it to be the infallible standard 
of faith and morals, and are willing to hear all 
reasonable argumentation, turn a deaf ear to every 
caviller, and hear none of his sarcastic ridicule, 
or noisy invective ; nor read those publications 
which substitute acrimonious, and sometimes high- 
sounding words for sense, and sneers for argu- 
mentation. 

Secondly, come to the Bible with an unbiased 
mind. Have no preconceived opinions as a stand- 
ard by which to try the Bible ; but try your own 
opinions by that. Sit down deliberately to the 



APPENDIX. 143 

work, and compare one part with another, dili- 
gently and candidly, desiring to know. the mind 
of the Spirit. Let the Bible speak its own lan- 
guage, and not a foreign tongue, which it is made 
to speak by forced constructions, and which would 
only perplex and lead you astray. Therefore de- 
part not from the obvious meaning, if stern neces- 
sity do not require. You can be in little danger 
of misapprehending the mind of the Spirit, if you 
will search his inspired book with a free, unshack- 
led, honest mind, as a being accountable to God, 
and desirous to know his will, in order to do it. 

Again ; read the ivhole Bible. Learn what doc- 
trines and duties it teaches, not from abstract sen- 
tences and isolated parts, but as one entire and con- 
nected volume. Harbor nothing of a cynical, or 
fastidious spirit, in your researches after truth. 
Read the whole with the sobriety and interest be- 
coming an inquirer after his soul's salvation. 

Further ; read the Bible daily ; search it daily, 
and take nothing upon trust, when you can ob- 
tain the truth by your own researches. Assume 
such independence as that of the noble Bereans, 
" who searched the Scriptures daily, whether the 
things they heard were so." 

Also, read the Bible by course; in the order in 
which it was written, or as it stands in your copies. 
You will then have an unbroken chain, as in other 
books and letters of business. This is the only 
way in which you can learn the whole revealed 
will of God ; and there is no other method which 
can assure you that you do read all his revelation. 
Miscellaneous and promiscuous reading is good, 



144 APPENDIX. 

and very proper and desirable ; but unless yod 
read the Bible in course, there may, and probably 
would be many important and deeply interesting 
things, which you would never see. 

I remember a man, more than forty years of 
age, once showed me his well-preserved Bible, 
which he said, with some complacency, he inher- 
ited from his grandfather. I took it, and turning 
it over, found two leaves that had never been cut 
apart. Probably, if that sacred book had been 
read in order, as Luke wrote to Theophilus, those 
pages, which had been so long concealed, would 
have been read. — If God has written us from 
heaven, is it not treating him with disrespect if we 
do not read what he has so kindly written ? As 
there is nothing wanting in God's sacred Book, 
so there is nothing redundant. Then read it all. 
And yet, with bow much more neglect, and even 
irreverence do nominal Christians treat the Book 
of God, than Jews, Turks and heathens, treat 
their Talmud, their Alcoran, and their Mythol- 
ogy ! And yet the Bible, and no other book, 
teaches what we must he and do to render us ac- 
ceptable in the sight of our Judge, and elevate us 
to true nobility and happiness in both worlds. It 
should shame us to see with what avidity men will 
generally devour human works of narrative and bi- 
ography, which present before them the renowned 
achievements of the great and powerful, while we 
so little prize the sacred Book, which contains 
what is incomparably more sublime, interesting 
and magnanimous. 



APPENDIX. 145 

Beware also, bow yon listen to the bold or insid- 
ious attacks made upon the Bible. " If others are 
bold, you may be bold also. If they have no 
argument more conclusive than bold assertion, 
your bare and bold assertion is as good as theirs, 
is as conclusive, and proves as much. But you 
are in the most danger, from their sly insidious 
attacks on the Bible. They will not fall upon the 
chief citadel, till they think they have demolished 
the outworks of Christianity, lest you take the 
alarm, and seta double guard. If they can shake 
your faith in what does not affect the vitals of 
Christianity, they hope to overthrow your faith in 
the whole Book. When the pins are drawn out, 
and the smaller studs and braces of an edifice are 
taken away, it is no difficult matter to overthrow 
its principal pillars, its beams and rafters. Hold 
fast, therefore, the whole of the faithful word, 
guard, with the eye of an eagle, and with the 
strength of a lion, every part of that sacred treas^ 
ure. Wealth, learning and power never appear 
to better advantage, as they never subserve better 
purposes, than when they are made subordinate 
to the interests of immortality. With these inter- 
ests properly in view, a man of enterprise, and 
without the imputation of being avaricious, may 
seek the wealth of both the Indies ; the philosopher 
may unlock the secrets of nature for his pleasure 
as well as for his profit ; and the astronomer meas- 
ure the heavens, as well as pursue the course of 
general science ; and the customary commerce of 
life be industriously pursued ; and all is well* 



146 APPENDIX. 

Remember that these sacred records, received 
into your understandings " with all readiness of 
mind," and into your hearts with due complacen- 
cy, will make you wise unto salvation through 
faith in Jesus Christ. 

May " the God of all grace, who hath called us 
unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that 
ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, estab- 
lish, strengthen , settle you.' 1 




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